Sharing the sights, sounds and stories of regional NSW has earned a cross-platform plethora of Australian Community Media journalists places in the running for the prestigious Kennedy Awards.
Australian Community Media titles including the Newcastle Herald clinched finalist berths across a range of categories in the prestigious awards that recognise excellence in photography, podcasting and newspaper journalism in print and online.
Outstanding regional newspaper journalism finalists included only ACM reporters: the Illawarra Mercury's Ashleigh Tullis, Naracoorte Herald's Elisabeth Champion and Ciara Bastow from the Lithgow Mercury.
Herald photographer Marina Neil's short of Carissa Moore's stunning spin at Merewether earned her a place in the final three for the Outstanding Sports Photo category.
And the work of photographer Dallas Kilponen in the Northern Beaches Review was also recognised in the outstanding portrait section.
Tom Melville and Laura Corrigan were shortlisted for outstanding podcast for their work on the Voice of Real Australia podcast.
Kennedy Foundation chairman Rocco Fazzari said the 70 judges this year had faced a difficult task.
"In a really big news year the standard of submissions was exceptional," he said.
The awards will be presented at a September 24 ceremony.
