Emma Cam wins New Journalist of the Year for healthcare safety expose
A hard-hitting investigation into hospital staff safety has earned first-year journalist Emma Cam Queensland's top award for emerging talent.
Reporter Emma Cam has been named New Journalist of the Year at the 2025 Queensland Clarion Awards.
Key to Ms Cam’s nomination was the Cairns Post’s series Operation Safe Zone: Safety Solutions for Healthcare Workers.
The powerful investigation exposed dangers faced by frontline hospital staff and helped deliver real change to safety conditions for regional health workers.
Judges said Ms Cam “stood out” because of her strong, persistent journalism.
“It was a strong field, but she stood out with her campaigning journalism (and) produced consistently excellent stories that resulted in a win for nurses in Far North Queensland,” they wrote.
The 2025 Queensland Clarion Awards were held on October 18 at the Sofitel Brisbane Central, and celebrated its 30th year of recognising excellence in journalism, photography, and media across the state.
With a special interest in health reporting, Ms Cam said she was honoured to be recognised among the state’s best journalists.
“Delivering real change to safety conditions for regional health workers was at the heart of my reporting and I’m so proud this work has been recognised,” she said.
More than 330 entries were received across 28 categories for this year’s awards, run by the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance.
In her acceptance speech, Ms Cam also thanked News Corp Australia for giving her a “second chance” at a new career and purpose in life.
“The (News Corp) National Cadet Program set me up for success and I wouldn’t be here without it,” she said.
“To the Clarion Awards judges and the MEAA – thank you for this honour. It’s easy to forget, in the trenches of deadlines and tough stories, why we do what we do.”
Cairns Post editor Sian Jeffries praised Ms Cam for her hard work, dedication and tenacity.
“The Cairns Post is thrilled to celebrate Emma being named New Journalist of the Year,” Ms Jeffries said.
“The competition in this category was tough, so this is a huge achievement and testament to her dedication and perseverance, which has really lifted outcomes for our community”.
The Cairns Post has been strongly recognised by the media industry this year.
In September, Ms Cam also led a hard-hitting campaign exposing life-threatening delays and workforce shortages in regional healthcare.
This series won Best Regional Campaign 2025 at the News Corp Australia Awards.
The coverage prompted a 73-year-old radiologist to return to Queensland X-Ray and pushed for the reinstatement of breast cancer diagnostic services.
Additionally, it helped secure a $27.5 million bipartisan commitment for CQUniversity to launch a Bachelor of Medical Imaging by 2026.
The reporting also revealed 18-month paediatric cardiology waits, which resulted in $1.45 million in funding for a second specialist.
Impressively, Ms Cam led the series in her first year at the masthead after graduating from News Corp’s cadet program.
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Originally published as Emma Cam wins New Journalist of the Year for healthcare safety expose
