‘Lawyer X’ scandal a gold winner at Walkleys for News Corp

News Corp has picked up the coveted Gold Walkley for the second year in a row.

Herald Sun journalist Anthony Dowsley. Picture: Brett Costello

News Corp Australia picked up five awards at the annual Walkley­ Awards for Excellence in Journalism, including the ­coveted Gold Walkley.

At the event in Sydney on Thursday, journalists from ­Brisbane’s The Courier-Mail, Melbourne’s Herald Sun and Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph were recognised for their work across categories, including best headline, caption or hook, and investigat­ive journalism.

The Herald Sun’s Anthony Dowsley and Patrick Carlyon took home the prized gold award for their ­“Lawyer X informer scandal”, after earlier winning for best coverage of a major news event or issue and investigative journalism.

The Herald Sun’s Patrick Carlyon. Picture: Rebecca Michael

It was News Corp’s second Gold Walkley in a row, after The Australian’s Hedley Thomas and Slade Gibson won last year’s gong for The Teacher’s Pet investigation into the 1982 disappearance of Sydney woman Lyn Dawson.

.@AnthonyDowsley : "My Mum’s here. She’s 82. I told her it was the Logies so she came."@AnthonyDowsley and Patrick Carlyon are our Gold Walkley Winners for 2019 - we're happy his Mum made it! pic.twitter.com/06K3qcWwCf

— Walkley Foundation (@walkleys) November 28, 2019

The Courier-Mail’s Baz McAlister took out the headline, caption or hook category for “Time To Haul Ass”, “Give ’em a finch and they’ll take a mine” and “Halal … Is it meals you’re sooking for”. In the production category, the Telegraph’s Fadzil Hamzah won for “The Ibrahim Tapes”.

The ABC won seven awards for public service journ­alism, radio/audio news and ­current ­affairs and news photo­graphy.

Nine-owned newspapers The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age picked up four awards, including best news report for work on the fallout at the ABC and an investigation into Crown Resorts.

Seven West Media took the top prizes for television camera work and news reporting for its coverage of the Sydney stabbing rampage in August.

Walkley judging board chairwoman Lenore Taylor welcomed the range of winners. “At a time when our professio­n is under threat from up-ended business models, legislative overreach and those who are deliberat­ely seeking to de-legitimise our work, it is more important than ever to promote and celebrate the very best of what we do,” she said.

Read the full list of all the winners of the 64th Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism here: https://t.co/ODUpq9QIBc

— Walkley Foundation (@walkleys) November 28, 2019