The Age journalists dominate Quill Award nominations

The Age’s coverage of the big stories of 2024 – including the CFMEU scandal, the Easey Street cold case breakthrough and the re-election of US President Donald Trump – has been recognised with a swag of nominations in Victoria’s most prestigious journalism awards.

The masthead picked up 41 nominations across 21 categories in the Melbourne Press Club’s Quill Awards For Journalistic Excellence, to be held in late March.

The Age artworks that have received Quill nominations.Credit: Matt Absalom-Wong

After another year of shining a light into some of Australia’s darkest corners, investigative reporters Nick McKenzie and Ben Schneiders have both been recognised as finalists in the prestigious Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year category.

They were among the team from The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes nominated in the Grant Hattam Quill for Investigative Journalism category for the agenda-setting series Building Bad.

The months-long probe into the CFMEU uncovered infiltration by bikies and organised criminals, intimidation and allegations of corruption. The full ramifications from that series, which broke last year, are still emerging.

McKenzie and Schneiders were also recognised alongside the AFR’s David Marin-Guzman in the News Report in Writing category for the Building Bad series. In the same category, Age reporters Henrietta Cook and Broede Carmody were nominated for IBAC investigating claims surgeons billed TAC for nonexistent procedures.

Veteran crime writer John “Sly” Silvester continues to stamp his authority on Melbourne’s crime scene. He has picked up three nominations – two for his coverage of police identifying a suspect killer in the decades-old Easey Street cold case (in Scoop of the Year and Best Breaking News or Live Coverage) and one in the Keith Dunstan Quill for Commentary for his commentary of Victoria’s justice system.

Waleed Aly was also nominated in the commentary category for his work in The Age.

Investigative reporter Clay Lucas joined Silvester in the Scoop category for his expose on the medicinal cannabis industry.

Crime reporters Chris Vedelago and Marta Pascual Juanola, who have continued their work shining a light on Victoria’s tobacco wars in recent weeks, have been nominated for Best Coverage of an Issue.

The Age has also swept all three nominations in the artwork category, thanks to entries from Matthew Absalom-Wong and editor Patrick Elligett, Marija Ercegovac and Richard Gilberto.

“Much of the most important journalism in the country has come from The Age newsroom this year,” Elligett said.

“These nominations are welcome recognition of the consistent standards of excellence upheld by our reporters, photographers, editors and artists.”

In the Business News/Feature category, Sarah Danckert and Carla Jaeger have been nominated for their reporting on underworld figures infiltrating an ASX-listed company, while Aisha Dow received a nod for her reporting on the victims of a scam affecting HSBC customers.

Jaeger is also finalist in the prestigious Young Journalist of the Year category.

Sports reporter Michael Gleeson’s body of work has earned him a nod as a finalist in the Harry Gordon Australian Sports Journalist of the Year category.

His story on the perplexing problem facing Noah Lyles, the world’s fastest man, also earned him a Sports Feature nomination. Melissa Fyfe is nominated in the same category for her feature on legendary female jockey Jamie Kah.

The Age’s visual stories team also got a nod in the same category for their work comparing the 1924 Paris Olympians to the 2024 crop. That feature, Faster, higher, stronger, was also nominated in the Innovation in Journalism category.

The visual stories team picked up two other nominations in the Innovation category, one for AI language models – Budget speeches analysis with Shane Wright, and another for Scam-finding bot with Dow and Julia Carr-Catzel.

It also got a nod in the Excellence in Indigenous Affairs Reporting category – a shared nomination with The Age’s investigations teams – for Carbon ‘sharks’: How private companies are cashing in on ancient practices.

The team is also a finalist in the Feature Writing category alongside Michael Bachelard, McKenzie, and Ruby Schwartz for Road to Ruin – about scientists asking serious questions about the case of Robert Farquharson, who is serving 33 years for murdering his three sons in 2005.

McKenzie was also nominated in the TV/Video Feature category for his story, Science of Murder, on the Farquharson case aired on Nine’s 60 Minutes.

Bachelard and Schwartz have also been nominated in the Podcasting category for the same investigation.

In the Cartoon category, it was also a clean sweep for The Age, with works from Badiucao, Joe Benke, Matt Golding and Megan Herbert all being recognised with nominations.

Age photographer Justin McManus has been nominated for Best Features Photograph for his work at western Victoria’s Mt Arapiles (Dyurrite) last year.Credit: Justin McManus

The Age’s photographers also snared a raft of nominations. Kate Geraghty, Christopher Hopkins and Justin McManus were recognised for their work in The Age in the News Photograph category. Geraghty and McManus also received nominations in the Features Photograph category.

In the Coverage of Women in Sport category, The Age’s Hannah Kennelly was nominated for ‘There’s nowhere for them to go’: When girls are booted out of football – an article that also appeared in The Mansfield Courier. Marnie Vinall also got a nod for ‘I was in so much pain’: The unspoken ‘big issue’ affecting women athletes.

State political reporter Rachel Eddie was nominated in the Excellence in Science, Medical and Health Reporting category for ‘Inconclusive is enough’: Victoria’s low-key pill testers.

In the Multicultural Affairs and Media category, Benjamin Preiss was nominated for his opinion column in the wake of the Adass Israel Synagogue firebombing with More than one community, this was an attack on Melbourne’s multicultural fabric. Abbir Dib was also recognised for her personal essay, Every morning I check WhatsApp to make sure my Teta in Lebanon is still alive.

Read the full list of nominees here.