Top honour for Hedley Thomas at News Awards as The Australian’s news team lauded

The Australian’s national chief correspondent Hedley Thomas has won one of the nation’s most prestigious journalism awards for The Teacher’s Pet.

Hedley Thomas receives the Sir Keith Murdoch Award at the 2022 News Awards from News Corp co-chairman Lachlan Murdoch at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts

The Australian’s national chief correspondent Hedley Thomas has won one of the nation’s most prestigious journalism awards for his work on the groundbreaking podcast, The Teacher’s Pet.

Thomas won the Sir Keith Murdoch Award at News Corp’s annual prize-giving ceremony on Tuesday, in recognition of his long-running investigation into the disappearance of Sydney mother of two Lyn Dawson in 1982.

The award capped a stellar night for The Australian’s team of top journalists, who were ­honoured for their groundbreaking reporting from the energy ­crisis to floods disasters, from Yuendumu to the boardroom.

Thomas’s work culminated in a guilty verdict in September in the murder trial of Lyn’s former husband, Chris Dawson.

Upon receiving the award, Thomas said: “Lyn’s story was a story that had died, a case that seemed like it wasn’t going to get anywhere. We restarted it and we were able to find so much more important information.”

He said the guilty verdict “was an incredible result and it just showed the power of journalism and of our platforms”.

News Corp co-chairman Lachlan Murdoch said of Thomas: “He’s exposed malfeasance, ­incompetence and crimes. He’s triggered inquiries, royal commissions and criminal trials. He has done all this through his relentless pursuit of documented facts and innate sense of justice … and winning the trust of victims and their supporters by upholding the ­essential values of our craft.”

Mr Murdoch said that “despite all of his many successes”, Thomas was “one of the nicest, most humble people, but he’s also one of the most decorated journalists in this country, and for good reason”.

Investigations writer Sharri Markson. Picture: Christian Gilles

“Without Hedley, we might ask how many more people might have died at the hands of Dr (Jayant) Patel or we might ask what would have happened to Dr Mohamed ­Haneef wrongly accused of links to terrorism … His recent work, however, has taken investigative journalism to a new level by painstakingly pursuing the truth about what happened to Lynette Dawson.”

Thomas invited his wife Ruth Mathewson on to the stage to thank her for being by his side at all times. “We thank our editors, they deserve so much praise … but without our partners I don’t believe we could do any of this work,” he said.

Senior business writer Perry Williams won the Keith McDonald Business Journalism Award for best business journalism.

Williams has led the way on reporting on the nation’s gas crisis and played an integral role in The Australian’s pioneering Green List of the nation’s top players in the climate business space. He said ­energy had been “a fantastic space to be covering and there’s no better place than The Aus”.

Lachlan Murdoch and wife Sarah. Picture: Christian Gilles

Young Journalist of the Year went to Sydney reporter Liam Mendes for his coverage of this year’s NSW floods, during which he showcased his talents as a ­writer, photographer and video journalist.

Senior reporter Kristin Shorten, editorial director Claire Harvey and Sky News Northern Australia correspondent Matt Cunningham won best visual and audio campaign for exposing what really happened in Yuendumu.

The exclusive podcast, video and print series, which started as a documentary, followed policeman Zachary Rolfe, who was acquitted over the death of Indigenous man Kumanjayi Walker in the remote outback town of Yuendumu.

Investigations writer Sharri Markson and business editor Kylar Loussikian won Scoop of the Year in the visual and audio category for “Cooked: CEO quits over explicit video” centred around Lark Distilling chief Geoff Bainbridge smoking an ice pipe.

John Stensholt, business journalism winner Perry Williams and Nick Evans. Picture: Christian Gilles

Associate editor Ellen Whinnett won top prize in the National Human-Interest Storytelling category for her book with Lisa Curry, A Memoir.

The News Awards are now in their 18th year and showcase the best in city, regional and remote reporting by News Corp publications across the country.

Mr Murdoch said the year had been a difficult one, and “difficult times are testing times” for journalists. “While in the main we have moved happily on from the pandemic, we can’t forget the essential role our journalism has and will continue to play in questioning authority, holding our political leaders to account, highlighting the extreme social costs of lockdowns and getting our kids healthily back to school,” he said.

News Corp Australia executive chairman Michael Miller and his wife Tonya. Picture: Christian Gilles

“Our role has never been more important, for without questioning our choices and examining the outcomes, our society cannot learn from history and will repeat the worst of our mistakes.”

News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson said: “We are today more digital, more mobile, more global. And yet we cannot be complacent. We cannot be ­satisfied or smug, but must regard our shared success as a starting point for the future and for what is to come.”