Michael Bachelard’s investigation into the evidence surrounding Robert Farquharson’s murder conviction for the drowning deaths of his three children was recognized with two awards at the Quill Awards. The investigative reporting team at The Age, led by McKenzie, Ruby Schwartz, and the visual stories team, won an award for their feature “Road to Ruin”, as well as for the “Trial by Water” podcast on the case. The Indigenous Affairs Reporting Quill was awarded to The Age’s visual stories team, along with investigative reporters Charlotte Grieve and Simone Fox Koob, and photographer Jason South, for their investigation into allegations of predatory behavior by some carbon companies.
Marija Ercegovac was honored with the Quill for Artwork for her illustration “Seeing Red”, which highlighted the parlous state of the Victorian economy. The cartoon category was dominated by Badiucao from The Age, who won for his cartoon “Albo’s Choice”. Hannah Kennelly of The Age received the Quill for Coverage of Women in Sport for her collaboration with The Mansfield Courier on the struggles faced by young female AFL players in regional areas. Melissa Fyfe won the Sport Feature award for her profile of jockey Jamie Kah in Good Weekend.
Columnist Waleed Aly was recognized with the Keith Dunstan Quill for Commentary, with judges commending his opinion pieces for demonstrating deep thought and masterful writing. Christopher Hopkins received the News Photograph Quill for his powerful image captured at the protests surrounding Melbourne’s Land Forces Expo. The Age was also highly commended in multiple categories, including Breaking News, Best Coverage of an Idea, Business News/Feature, Cartoon, and Features Photograph. John Silvester and Carla Jaeger were also highly commended in the commentary and Young Journalist of the Year categories, respectively.
Nick McKenzie made history by becoming the first person to receive three Graham Perkin Journalist of the Year awards. In the Innovation in Journalism category, The Age received two highly commended entries for an analysis of 123 years of budget speeches and the “Faster, higher, stronger series”, which compared today’s Olympians to those from 1924. Overall, The Age was praised for consistently generating impactful, public interest journalism and for the dedication of its reporters, editors, and newsroom staff, along with the support of their subscribers.
