Age staff honoured at Walkley Awards for excellence

South was one of three Age and Sunday Age employees to be honoured at last night's Walkey Awards for excellence in journalism.

The others were senior Age journalist Warwick McFadyen, who was named best headline writer, and Sunday Age reporter Michael Bachelard, who won the business journalism award.

South has now won the nation's leading press photography award on three occasions, following victories in 1999 and 2003, three other Walkleys in specialist categories and a remarkable six Quill awards.

His winning portfolio in 2010 included an essay depicting the plight of the mentally ill in Indonesia, a poignant portrait of Vietnam veteran Barry Brewer at the Anzac dawn service and a series on football in the outback community of Yuendumu.

"A remarkably beautiful series of images," declared the judges.

Paul Ramadge, The Age's editor-in-chief, congratulated all the paper's winners. He made special mention of South's achievement in winning the photographer of the year award.

"This confirms Jason as one of the most talented and prolific photographers of his generation. From wars to the dispossessed, politics to everyday people, Jason's images are always masterful and invariably moving. The Age is very proud of his achievement," he said.

McFadyen is another multiple winner, taking out his second Walkey for headline writing. His three headlines covered Carl Williams' funeral ("To the end, a killer's gilt shows through"), a World Cup red card ("The Kewell hand of fate") and the challenge faced by young people getting into the housing market ("Home a loan too much for kids"). The judges said it was "a very high standard of work produced against the backdrop of daily deadline pressures".

Bachelard's win was for an investigative story on the "shadow side" of Richard Pratt, in which a former rival admitted taking bribes from the influential businessman in return for revealing industrial secrets.

The judges said he showed courage, as well as "rare persistence and tenacity in taking on a Melbourne business and philanthropy icon whose family continues to wield business and political power".

The best news story was won by The Sydney Morning Herald's Paul McGeough for his coverage of the Gaza aid flotilla, also run prominently in The Age.

The best online journalism went to Andrew Meares for "Phonearoids@mearesy on Fairfax's nationaltimes.com.au.

Greg Hywood, acting Fairfax Media CEO, said last night: "Of course we swept the Walkleys. We have the best journalists."

The gold Walkley went to Channel Nine's Laurie Oakes for the leaks that dominated Julia Gillard's election campaign.

55th WALKLEY AWARDS

2010 WINNERS

MAJOR AWARDS

GOLD WALKLEY

Laurie Oakes, Nine Network

NIKON-WALKLEY PRESS PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR

Jason South, The Age

MOST OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO JOURNALISM

Cameron Forbes

JOURNALISM LEADERSHIP

Kerry OBrien, ABC TV presenter, The 7.30 Report

WALKLEY BOOK AWARD

Shirley Shackleton, The Circle of Silence: A personal testimony before, during and after Balibo

OTHER WINNERS

BUSINESS JOURNALISM

Michael Bachelard, The Sunday Age, The shadow side of a cardboard king

BEST THREE HEADINGS

Warwick McFadyen, The Age, Heads and tales

PRINT NEWS REPORT

Paul McGeough, The Sydney Morning Herald, Prayers, tear gas and terror

BEST ONLINE JOURNALISM

Andrew Meares, smh.com.au and nationaltimes.com.au, Phonearoids @mearesy: Looking Back at Moving Forward

COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS, OPINION AND CRITIQUE

Andrew Cornell, The Australian Financial Review, Once bitten: How Australias banks dodged the crisis

SOCIAL EQUITY JOURNALISM

John Blades, ABC Radio National, 360 documentaries, The too hard basket

BEST SCOOP OF THE YEAR

Lenore Taylor, The Sydney Morning Herald, ETS off the agenda until late next term

DAILY LIFE/FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY

Lisa Wiltse, Getty Images, Potosi

INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS

Martin Butler and Bentley Dean, ABC TV, Contact

COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL AFFAIRS

Nicole Hasham and Laurel-Lee Roderick, The Illawarra Mercury, Fund collapse ruins families

BEST SPORTS JOURNALISM

Adrian Proszenko, The Sun-Herald, Melbourne Storm rorts salary cap

SPORT PHOTOGRAPHY

Michael Dodge, The Herald Sun, Seizing the Moment

RADIO NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS REPORTING

Stephen Long, ABC Radio, PM, A Super Scandal

RADIO FEATURE, DOCUMENTARY OR BROADCAST SPECIAL

Kristina Kukolja, SBS, World View, Echoes of Srebrenica

MAGAZINE FEATURE WRITING

David Marr, Quarterly Essay and The Sydney Morning Herald, Power trip: The political journey of Kevin Rudd

CARTOON

Mark Knight, The Herald Sun, Moving forward

ARTWORK

Eric Lbbecke, The Australian, Rudds dangerous climate retreat

OUTSTANDING CONTINUOUS COVERAGE OF AN ISSUE OR EVENT

Stephen Fitzpatrick, The Australian, Sri Lankan asylum seeker stand-off

NEWSPAPER FEATURE WRITING

Pamela Williams, The Australian Financial Review, Labors Trial

NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY

Brett Costello, The Daily Telegraph, Jessica

PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY

Phil Hillyard, The Daily Telegraph, Prime Minister Julia Gillard

INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISM

Mary Ann Jolley and Andrew Geoghegan, ABC TV, Foreign Correspondent, Fly away children

TELEVISION NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS CAMERA

Neale Maude, ABC TV, Four Corners, A careful war

TELEVISION NEWS REPORTING

Laurie Oakes, Nine Network, Labor leaks

TELEVISION CURRENT AFFAIRS, FEATURE, DOCUMENTARY OR SPECIAL (MORE THAN 20 MINUTES)

Sophie McNeill and Geoff Parish, SBS TV, Dateline, Questions from Oruzgan

TELEVISION CURRENT AFFAIRS REPORTING (LESS THAN 20 MINUTES)

Fouad Hady and Ashley Smith SBS TV, Dateline, Iraqs deadly legacy

INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

Linton Besser, The Sydney Morning Herald, The wrong stuff

BROADCAST AND ONLINE INTERVIEWING

Kerry OBrien, ABC TV, The 7.30 Report, Kevin Rudd, Abbott part 1, Abbott part 2 the crisis

What the judges said about Jason Souths body of work: A remarkably beautiful series of images... Jason has produced a folio of world-class photo journalism, bringing to the public images of places and circumstances otherwise hidden from the world.