The Australian in line for Walkleys honours

The Australian’s commitment to investigative reporting and innovative storytelling has been recognised in this year’s Walkley Awards for excellence in journalism.

The Australian's NSW editor Stephen Rice. Picture: Britta Campion

The Australian’s commitment to investigative reporting and innovative storytelling has been recognised in this year’s Walkley Awards for excellence in journalism.

Senior journalists Jessica Halloran and Stephen Rice have been nominated in the sports journalism category for their series, Predator in the Vault, which exposed the alleged abuse committed by Australia’s most celebrated pole-vaulting coach Alex Parnov. He groomed, propositioned, sexually harassed and inappropriately touched multiple young female athletes in his care, in a pattern of predatory behaviour that was ignored and then kept secret by the West Australian Institute of Sport for more than 15 years.

The Australian’s Jessica Halloran. Picture: Britta Campion

The Australian’s Andrew Webster. Picture: John Feder

Halloran and Rice have already won multiple media awards for their investigation into Parnov’s conduct and the subsequent cover-up by authorities.

The Australian’s senior sports writer Andrew Webster has also been nominated in the sports journalism category for his memorable feature article on Phil ‘Gus’ Gould, which scrutinised how the NRL supremo wields his influence across a daunting network of billionaires, politicians, journalists, television executives and even police.

In the short feature writing (under 4000 words) category, The Australian’s sports reporter and columnist Will Swanton has been recognised for his magazine piece on gold medal-winning Paralympian Alexa Leary.

The Australian’s Will Swanton.

In 2021, Leary was a professional triathlete who suffered a life-threatening cycling accident, resulting in major brain damage, broken bones, and a collapsed lung.

Swanton conducted an emotional interview with Leary’s father in the moments after the swimmer’s success at the Paris Games, who told the journalist over a celebratory beer: “Standing here right now, if we could do a swap and you could make Lex’s brain all right again – I’d go over to the pool and hand the medal back”.

All Walkley Award winners will be announced at a gala dinner in Sydney on November 27.