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Herald journalists win Walkley award for Dyson Heydon investigation
By Megan Gorrey
The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age’s investigative reporter Kate McClymont and senior journalist Jacqueline Maley have won a Walkley award for their investigation exposing sexual assault allegations against former High Court justice Dyson Heydon.
The investigation, which revealed in June the findings of a High Court inquiry into the former justice’s behaviour as well as systemic problems in the legal profession, was awarded the prize for the best print/text news report.
Former High Court justice Dyson Heydon denied the sexual harassment allegations.Credit: Anna Kucera
The Herald's journalists, photographers and economics editor Ross Gittins were among those recognised in Australia's top journalism awards on Friday night, following an extraordinary year of news and current affairs.
Photographer Nick Moir won the Walkley for best feature/photographic essay for Firestorm, which documented this year's bushfire crisis.
Journalists Nick McKenzie and Sumeyya Ilanbey from sister paper The Age picked up an award for their collaboration with 60 Minutes reporter Joel Tozer exposing branch stacking in the Victorian Labor Party.
Nick Moir spent months photographing this year's bushfire crisis, including this intense blaze at Bilpin. Credit: Nick Moir
The Age's science reporter Liam Mannix was awarded for his feature on the two gene tweaks that turned COVID-19 into a killer, while associate editor Tony Wright was recognised for his series of insightful commentary and critiques.
The award for the Heydon investigation was McClymont's eighth Walkley. She won two for her investigation into sexual harassment claims against television presenter Don Burke in 2018.
The Herald's economics editor, Ross Gittins, was honoured with a Walkley for his outstanding contribution to journalism.
Mr Gittins, whose first byline in the Herald was on Saturday March 9, 1974, covered his 46th federal budget this year.
Federal Treasury boss Stephen Kennedy and Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe both paid tribute to Mr Gittins' journalism over four decades.
Ross Gittins covered his 46th federal budget this year.
Dr Kennedy said: "Something that is special about what Ross Gittins does is he humanises the economic policy debate; no-one in Australia has made a contribution in this domain as well as Ross."
Dr Lowe said he had seen first hand how admired Gittins is for his commitment to educating students, when a young man approached him after a public speech recently and "asked if he could take a selfie and ask a question."
"We took the selfie ... his question was, do you personally know Ross Gittins? When I answered yes, the look of sheer delight on the young man's face was something to behold," Dr Lowe said.
Herald economics writer Jessica Irvine, one of the dozens of young reporters Mr Gittins has mentored over his career, said he had played a central role in Australian journalism and politics.
"He's been at that intersection of taking public policies and explaining it to readers ... he's actually helped to have better public policies in Australia," she said.
The Herald's editor Lisa Davies and executive editor James Chessell paid tribute to Mr Gittins on behalf of their predecessors.
Ms Davies said: "Ross has forged an extraordinary career explaining complicated economic concepts and policies in ways readers not only understand, but respect.
"His verdict on each federal budget remains a highlight of the Herald's coverage, and the first thing most readers devour."
The Gold Walkley went to ABC journalist Mark Willacy and the broadcaster's investigations and Four Corners teams for their story, "Killing Field", on war crimes allegations against Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.
There were 16 award nominations received across the Herald and The Age.
The Heydon investigation was also nominated in the investigative journalism category. Mr Moir and photographer Kate Geraghty were each nominated for the Nikon-Walkley Press Photographer of the Year award.
Harriet Alexander, Mark Stehle and Richard Lama were nominated in the print/text feature writing (short) category for their piece, "The Monster: A short history of Australia's biggest forest fire".
The mastheads' digital team received two nominations for their interactive online project "Invisible Crime: Are we failing victims of sexual violence?"
Journalists from The Age were nominated for their work reporting the hotel quarantine blunder that led to Victoria's second wave of COVID-19 infections.