Finalists have been announced for the 45th Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year. The award honours the memory of celebrated Age editor Graham Perkin. It carries a $10,000 cash prize.
The 2020 judging panel include managing editor of The Australian newspaper Helen Trinca, associate editor of The Age Duska Sulicich, and ABC Insiders host David Speers.
The winner will be announced at the 2020 Quill Awards Dinner on Friday 26 March 2021. Tickets can be booked here.
The 2020 Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year finalists are presented alphabetically by surname below. Please note that some work submitted with entries – including print materials – may not be included.
Lorena Allam, The Guardian, for agenda-setting coverage of Indigenous affairs
"Australia's anguish: the Indigenous kids trapped behind bars", The Guardian, 18 January 2020
"Coronavirus: how remote Indigenous communities are fighting to keep coronavirus out", The Guardian, 20 March 2020
"'Time to embrace history of country': Bruce Pascoe and the first dancing grass harvest in 200 years", The Guardian, 13 May 2020
"Family of David Dungay, who died in custody, express solidarity with family of George Floyd", The Guardian, 1 June 2020
"BHP to destroy at least 40 Aboriginal sites, up to 15,000 years old, to expand Pilbara mine", The Guardian, 11 June 2020
"'Heritage of all Australians': Rio Tinto and BHP in damage control after call for mining halt", The Guardian, 13 June 2020
"Freeing the Aboriginal flag: how a 'uniting symbol' ended up in the hands of the few", The Guardian, 22 August 2020
Jacqueline Maley and Kate McClymont, SMH, The Age, for a series of works on former High Court judge Dyson Heydon
"Judged: disgust in legal circles", The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 June 2020
"Judges 'knew of Heydon claims'", The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 June 2020
"Fresh claims against former judge Heydon", The Sydney Morning Herald, 27 June 2020
"Women lawyers fight for reforms", The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 July 2020
Nick McKenzie, The Age, SMH, Sixty Minutes, for investigative reporting on crime and corruption
"The Faceless man", 60 Minutes, June 2020
"One last mission", Good Weekend, 27 June 2020
"The Final Battle", 60 Minutes, November 2020
"Crown Unmasked (Update 2020)", 60 Minutes, February 2020
"Law Unto Themselves", 60 Minutes, December 2020
Mark Willacy, ABC, for the 'Killing Field' investigation
"Killing Field", ABC Four Corners, 16 March 2020
"Witnesses say Australian soldier killed another unarmed man in Afghanistan", ABC, 27 May 2020
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