Herald Sun reporter Robyn Riley honoured with prestigious Walkley Award for best scoop of the year
Herald Sun medical editor Robyn Riley has taken out a prestigious Walkley Award — the nation’s top journalism honour — for her expose on a baby being born to the wrong mother in a devastating IVF bungle.
Herald Sun medical editor Robyn Riley has taken out a prestigious Walkley Award for her expose on a baby being born to the wrong mother in a huge IVF mix-up.
Riley won the All Media: Scoop of the Year category in the nation’s top journalism awards on Thursday night for her exclusive story that made headlines around the world and led to tighter scrutiny of the fertility sector.
Monash IVF’s chief resigned and $60m was wiped from the company’s value in the wake of Riley’s report, with federal and state ministers also launching a sweeping overhaul of the industry.
Riley said she was honoured to receive the accolade, which showed the Herald Sun told “the stories that matter”.
The 70th Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism were held at the ICC in Sydney.
Walkley Foundation chief Shona Martyn said the awards were first presented in 1956 and had since become the benchmark for excellence in Australian journalism.
“This year there were more than 1000 entries in the Walkley Awards from journalists, photographers, documentary makers, authors, cartoonists and producers,” she said.
“The quality of the work was extremely high … my congratulations to the winners and the finalists.”
More Herald Sun Walkley finalists ...
Other Herald Sun journalists and a number of photographers were Walkley finalists.
Jake Nowakowski was nominated for Best News Photography for his compelling photo Land Forces, which summed up in a single frame the chaos and violence that reigned when activists took to the streets during Melbourne’s Land Forces 2024 international defence expo.
Alex Coppel was a finalist in the same category for his striking and historic images, Tony Mokbel Walks Free, taken after the famous Melbourne underworld figure left prison, and Jason Edwards was a finalist for the highest photographic honour, Nikon Walkley Photographer of the Year, for his folio of photos taken across a year, titled Moments.
His folio included an image of Port Arthur mass murderer Martin Bryant in prison.
The Herald Sun and News Corp team of Stephen Drill, David Caird, Charlotte Karp, Brooke Grebert-Craig and Kaitlyn Smith were also nominated for best Print/Text News for its work on the Laos drink poisoning deaths of Melbourne pair Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones.
Walkley Judging Board chair Sally Neighbour said the high calibre of the finalists’ and winners’ entries demonstrated that Australian journalism was “at its best, as good as anywhere in the world”.
Originally published as Herald Sun reporter Robyn Riley honoured with prestigious Walkley Award for best scoop of the year
