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Four Corners war crimes expose Killing Field wins Gold Walkley
MARK WILLACY and the ABC Investigations-Four Corners Team have won Australian journalism’s highest honour, the Gold Walkley, for their six-month long investigation Killing Field.
The program, which also won the Walkley Award for Investigative Journalism, exposed alleged war crimes by Australian special forces soldiers in Afghanistan.
Attempts to report on allegations of war crimes encounter extreme obstacles, yet Mark Willacy and the ABC Team's unflinching investigations continue to expose suspected cover-ups and deep cultural problems within Australia’s special forces. 
The judges said they were were impressed by Willacy’s compelling and brilliant investigation, which included shocking helmet-camera footage of special forces in action on the ground, sharp scripting and probing interviews.
Matthew Abbott was named the Nikon-Walkley Press Photographer of the Year for his work covering Australia’s unprecedented summer bushfires and Covid-19.
Lucie Morris-Marr’s Fallen (Allen & Unwin) won the Walkley Book Award.
Sarah Ferguson, Nial Fulton and Tony Jones’ haunting documentary Revelation (ABC and InFilms) won the Walkley Documentary Award.
The award for Outstanding Contribution to Journalism went to Ross Gittins, for his 40-year commitment to making economics and public policy not only accessible but a must read. He was also honoured for his dedication to mentoring many generations of journalists.
The 65th Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism were presented in 30 categories.
Walkley Foundation chief executive, Louisa Graham said, “The Walkley Foundation has a great deal to be proud of. The challenges of the last year have shown us that journalism is critical to keeping Australians accurately informed; this year’s list of finalists and winners is a testament to the outstanding journalism that is so critical to our democratic process.
“The Foundation remains strong and stable, enabling us to deliver on our mission to support and celebrate great Australian journalism.”
Walkley Judging Board chair, Lenore Taylor, praised the range and depth of this year’s winners.
“During last summer’s fires factual information at times made the difference between life and death,” Ms Taylor said. “Likewise, facts have been the most important tool for limiting the spread of the coronavirus, and our audiences have had a seemingly insatiable thirst for information.
“It was the role of journalists to go out and bring us reliable information – because facts are what we do. I am always heartened, if slightly overwhelmed, when I see the array of excellent reporting and writing in contention for a Walkley Award – and the journalistic skill and determination evident in every entry.”
2020 Walkley Award Winners
PRINT/TEXT: NEWS REPORT
Award Partner Media Super
- Jacqueline Maley and Kate McClymont, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, ‘Dirty Dyson’: A harasser on the High Court
PUBLIC SERVICE JOURNALISM
Award Partner Sydney Airport
- Nina Funnell, Kerry Warren and Lori Youmshajekian, news.com.au, The Herald Sun, NT News and The Mercury, ‘#LetUsSpeak: Victoria blocks sexual assault victims from using real names’, ‘Give Rape Survivors a Voice’ and ‘Gang rape victim becomes first Tasmanian to speak out following gag law reform’.
INNOVATION
Award Partner Google News Initiative
- Dylan Welch, Alexander Palmer, Clare Blumer and Suzanne Dredge, ABC, ‘Anatomy of a suicide bombing’.
HEADLINE, CAPTION OR HOOK
Award Partner Qantas
- Anthony De Ceglie, The West Australian, ‘The Royal Formerly Known As Prince’, ‘Bridget Over Troubled Rorters’ and ‘You Had One JobKeeper’.
PRINT/TEXT: FEATURE WRITING LONG (OVER 4000 WORDS)
Award Partner UQ
- Russell Jackson, ABC, ‘The Persecution of Robert Muir’.
PRINT/TEXT: FEATURE WRITING SHORT (UNDER 4000 WORDS)
Award Partner The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age
- Liam Mannix, The Age, ‘The Perfect Virus: Two gene tweaks that turned COVID-19 into a killer’.
COVERAGE OF INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS
Award Partner PwC Indigenous Consulting
- Calla Wahlquist and Lorena Allam, Guardian Australia, ‘Rio Tinto explodes Juukan Gorge, and BHP’s 24-hour backdown’.
COVERAGE OF COMMUNITY OR REGIONAL AFFAIRS
Award Partner BHP
- Matthew Kelly, Helen Gregory, Anita Beaumont and Donna Page, Newcastle Herald, ‘Your Right to Know’.
- David Rowe, The Australian Financial Review, ‘Thoughts and Prayers’.
- Jessica Halloran and Julian Linden, The Australian and The Daily Telegraph, ‘On Thin Ice: Katia's story’.
SPORT PHOTOGRAPHY
Award Partner Nikon
- Sam Ruttyn, The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph, ‘UFC 243’.
RADIO/AUDIO: NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS
Award Partner ABC
- Dr Norman Swan, Tegan Taylor and Will Ockenden, ABC, ‘Coronacast’.
- Rachael Brown, Josie Taylor, Tim Roxburgh, Marty Peralta and Trace Team, ABC, ‘Trace: The Informer’.
PRODUCTION
Award Partner Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas
- Four Corners Team, Four Corners, ABC, ‘Black Summer’.
SCOOP OF THE YEAR
Award Partner Nine News
- Samantha Maiden, The New Daily, ‘Hawaii Two-O: Scott Morrison's bushfire holiday’.
COVERAGE OF A MAJOR NEWS EVENT OR ISSUE
Award Partner Facebook
- ABC News and ABC Regional and Local Team, ABC, ‘ABC Bushfire Coverage’.
NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY
Award Partner Nikon
- Matthew Abbott, The New York Times and Oculi, ‘A kangaroo rushes past a burning house in Lake Conjola’.
BUSINESS JOURNALISM
Award Partner ING
- Michael Roddan, The Australian Financial Review, ‘#AMPToo - sexual harassment at AMP’.
FEATURE/PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY
Award Partner Nikon
- Nick Moir, The Sydney Morning Herald, ‘Firestorm’.
TELEVISION/VIDEO: CAMERAWORK
Award Partner Australian Super
- Adam Bovino, Today and Nine News, Nine, ‘George Floyd Protests’.
TELEVISION/VIDEO: NEWS REPORTING
Award Partner Seven
- Amelia Brace and Tim Myers, Sunrise, Seven News and The Latest, Seven Network, ‘Beat the Press: Journalism Under Attack’.
TELEVISION/VIDEO: CURRENT AFFAIRS SHORT (LESS THAN 20 MINUTES)
Award Partner SBS
- Marc Fennell, Ninah Kopel and Joel Stillone, The Feed, SBS, ‘Stuffed: Inside Australia's Biggest Museum Heist’.
TELEVISION/VIDEO: CURRENT AFFAIRS LONG (MORE THAN 20 MINUTES)
Award Partner TEN
- Nick McKenzie, Joel Tozer and Sumeyya Ilanbey, 60 Minutes, Nine, ‘The Faceless Man’.
- Mark Willacy and the ABC Investigations-Four Corners Team, Four Corners, ABC, ‘Killing Field’.
COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS, OPINION AND CRITIQUE
- Tony Wright, The Age, ‘You learn a bit working on a local paper. It's all about the people’, ‘The tragedy of Mary and William, and a federation in chaos again’ and ‘The vaccines that saved the rock 'n' roll generation, and many more’.
WALKLEY DOCUMENTARY AWARD
Award Partner NSW Government
- Sarah Ferguson, Nial Fulton and Tony Jones, ABC and In Films, Revelation.
- Lucie Morris-Marr, Fallen, Allen & Unwin.
NIKON-WALKLEY PRESS PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Award Partner Nikon
- Matthew Abbott, The New York Times and Oculi.
OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO JOURNALISM
Award Partner News Corp Australia
- Ross Gittins, The Sydney Morning Herald.
- Mark Willacy and the ABC Investigations-Four Corners Team, Four Corners, ABC, ‘Killing Field’.
The 2020 Walkley Judging Board
- Chair: Lenore Taylor, editor, Guardian Australia
- Deputy Chair: Claire Harvey, editorial director, The Australian
- Natalie Ahmat, presenter/producer, NITV News
- Michael Bachelard, investigations editor, The Age
- Michael Brissenden, reporter, Four Corners, ABC
- Patricia Karvelas, presenter, ABC Radio National Drive (abstained from judging in 2020)
- Mags King, managing photographic editor, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review
- Deborah Knight, presenter, 2GB
- Stella Lauri, network news director, WIN Television
- John Lehmann, commercial director and managing editor, The Australian
- Hamish Macdonald, host, Q&A, ABC
- Mark Mallabone, deputy editor, The West Australian
- Heidi Murphy, senior producer, Mornings with Neil Mitchell, 3AW693 (abstained from judging in 2020)
- Bhakthi Puvanenthiran, editor, ABC Life
- Tory Shepherd, columnist, The Advertiser
AWARDS DETERMINATION
Winners of the Walkley Awards are selected by the Walkley Judging Board. The Walkley Foundation has a mechanism for dealing with any conflict of interest, actual or perceived, that may arise during the judging process. The guidelines are based on the principle that all actual conflicts of interest are to be avoided and that even a perceived conflict may be damaging to all parties. You can read more about the conflict guidelines here.
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