Guardian Australia writers Ben Doherty and Greg Jericho won awards for feature writing and commentary at the 61st Walkley awards for excellence in journalism in Brisbane on Friday night.
Doherty was recognised for best short feature writing for his moving story about the Kurdish refugee Fazel Chegeni, who died on Christmas Island last year. Chegeni escaped torture in Iran, only to suffer mental torment and ultimately death in Australia’s detention system.
Economics columnist Jericho won for his collection of columns “Politics, the planet and the personal”, which touched on the big-picture issues of Australian politics and climate change, as well as his relationship with his daughter Emma.
Jericho was described by the judges as a brilliant myth buster for his forensic examinations of political and economic issues. A former public servant who wrote the celebrated blog Grogs Gamut, he has been writing for Guardian Australia since 2013.
The Gold Walkley was won by photojournalist Andrew Quilty, who has based himself in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, since 2013. In his speech he said when he worked for Fairfax before going freelance he always felt like a second-class citizen, and subordinate to the journalists, a role he realised was self-imposed.
He said he found it “deeply humbling” to be recognised not just for his photography but also his journalism. Quilty is the first photojournalist to win the award.
He paid tribute in his speech to the Guardian contributor Sune Engel Rasmussen, whose work on Afghanistan he illustrated this year.
The former Guardian columnist Stan Grant won the book award for Talking to My Country. Giving part of his winning speech in the Wiradjuri language, Grant said: “I was raised on the stories of my mother, a bush poet who told tales of living on the margins”
The Australian’s crime reporter Dan Box won two awards for his acclaimed podcast series Bowraville: best documentary feature or podcast and best coverage of Indigenous affairs. Box shared the award with colleagues from the Australian, Stephen Fitzpatrick and Eric George.
The scoop of the year was won by Nick Tabakoff from the Daily Telegraph for his coverage of the Parramatta Eels NRL salary cap scandal.
The award for long feature writing went to Jess Hill for Suffer the Children: Trouble in the Family Court, which was published in the Monthly.
Guardian Australia was nominated in three other categories: international journalism and multimedia storytelling for the Nauru Files; and coverage of a major news event for reporting on Cardinal George Pell before the child sex abuse royal commission.
