ABC journalist April McLennan (pictured) has been named Young Australian Journalist of the Year, RTRFM‘s Rachel Jennings won an ARN Audio scholarship and the ABC has won six awards overall at the Walkley Foundation’s 2025 Mid-Year Media Prizes.

McLennan who is based in Tasmania also won the categories of Public Service Journalism and Coverage of Community & Regional Affairs.

The judges said:

“April’s body of work across two subjects – unwanted medical intervention in childbirth and the accusations against former Launceston mayor Danny Gibson – deservedly earned her recognition in two categories, making her a fitting winner of the Young Journalist of the Year award.

Her work shows tenacity, dedication, strong investigative and research skills, and a laudable commitment to difficult public interest journalism.”

The ABC News Breakfast team was awarded for Excellence in Reporting on Violence Against Women for the special coverage “Not Just a Number”.

Lia Walsh won for Innovative Storytelling for her social media reports on the US election on the ABC’s TikTok and Instagram accounts.

Rudi Bremer, Teresa Tan and Daniel Browning from ABC Indigenous and ABC News Story Lab won the Arts Journalism & Arts Criticism Prize for “Australia, according to Archie Moore”.

ABC journalist/producer Jordan Fennell was awarded the Sean Dorney Grant for Pacific Journalism. Rachel Jennings, a journalist and news reader for RTRFM 92.1 was awarded the ARN Audio Scholarship and the Jacoby-Walkley Scholarship supported by Anita Jacoby, the Nine Network and AFTRS was awarded to Niddal Abdelrahman from the University of Queensland.

SCA’s LiSTNR also won a Walkley for coverage of Science and the Environment Prize
Claire Aird, Greg Muller, Claudianna Blanco, LiSTNR, Southern Cross Austereo, ‘Secrets We Keep: Should I Spit’ podcast series

The full list of winners is here: https://www.walkleys.com/2025-mid-year-media-prizes-winners/