The Age dominates Walkley Awards finalists list

A damaging exposé of corruption and intimidation within the CFMEU and an investigation into a powerful Home Affairs secretary’s secret efforts to exert political influence lead a long list of finalists for The Age in the 69th Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism.

Celebrated Age and Sydney Morning Herald photographer Kate Geraghty was also named winner of the photo of the year prize on Thursday for a powerful image captured while on assignment in Israel following the October 7 massacre. Geraghty’s work in the Middle East also secured a nod in the news photograph category.

Geraghty’s Walkley Award-winning photograph of Muslim worshippers being stopped momentarily by an Israeli police officer before entering the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.Credit: Kate Geraghty

Christopher Hopkins was also named winner of the portrait prize award for an image captured for Good Weekend.

In total, staff from The Age and the Herald represent 20 nominations across 16 categories – more than any other news organisation in the country.

Investigative reporter Nick McKenzie and the broader Age, Herald, Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes team responsible for the major Building Bad investigation into the CFMEU are finalists in the prestigious investigative journalism field, as well as television current affairs and coverage of a major news event or issue categories.

McKenzie, senior writer Michael Bachelard and 60 Minutes producer Amelia Ballinger are also in the running for the scoop of the year and television current affairs categories for revealing a cache of messages the then Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo sent to a Liberal powerbroker in a bid to promote conservatives, oust enemies and revamp the national security regime. Pezzullo was later sacked over the affair.

McKenzie is also a finalist in the documentary category for Revealed: Ben Roberts-Smith Truth on Trial, alongside Chris Masters, Dora Weekley and Orly Danon.

Arts writer Linda Morris and investigative reporter Eryk Bagshaw were nominated in two categories for their work exposing mining billionaire Gina Rinehart’s campaign to have a portrait removed from the National Gallery of Australia.

Senior economics correspondent Shane Wright and The Age’s Visual Stories Team are finalists in the digital media innovation category for a compelling analysis of historic budget speeches, while Matt Golding’s (M)Any questions? and Cathy Wilcox’s Break Glass are both in the running for cartoon of the year.

Investigative reporter Carrie Fellner is a finalist in three categories for her work covering the unfolding environmental and health crisis of the impacts of “forever chemicals” known as PFAS. She alongside Matthew Absalom-Wong, Michael Evans and Matt Davidson in the print/text news report category and specialist/beat reporting category for an investigation titled ‘The factory that contaminated the world’, and in the documentary category alongside Katrina McGowan, Janine Hosking and Mat Cornwell for the iKandy Films and Stan documentary, How To Poison A Planet.

The Age is also a finalist in this year’s explanatory journalism category with the entry ‘Faster, higher, stronger’, which compared all the 100m world record holders in history. David Leser is in the running for best commentary with his piece ‘The War in Gaza: Not in my Jewish name’, while Tom Decent is a finalist for sports journalism with the inside look at the Zoom call that brought down a Wallabies coach.

Herald photographer Nick Moir is also a finalist in the sport photography and press photographer of the year categories.

“I’m immensely proud of the work of our newsroom in the past 12 months and pleased to see it recognised by our peers,“ The Age editor Patrick Elligett said.

The winners will be announced at a gala dinner in Sydney on Tuesday, November 19.

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