Australia’s treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, both the negatives and the positives, featured prominently among the finalists of the 2015 UNAA Media Peace Awards. A story on an Australian high school’s policy of inclusion demonstrates what a socially cohesive and multicultural society can look like, while contrastingly another finalist highlights the failures in the Australian system which results in the indefinite detention of asylum seekers.
Investigations into the inadequacies of government services in Australia also featured, particularly in the areas of mental health, disability and aged care. The lack of services and support offered to families of youths with mental health issues and disabilities, particularly in rural Australia, was a powerful topic among the finalists.
This year saw finalists across fifteen categories, from almost every state and territory in Australia. The judges were impressed with the significantly high quality of all entries and faced a difficult task selecting the finalists.
Winners of the 2015 Media Peace Awards will be announced at the Awards Presentation Dinner to be held on Friday October 23 at the Pavilion, Arts Centre Melbourne.
Major Categories
Print – News
FINALIST Ben Doherty and Sarah Malik, Guardian Australia – The
Extraordinary Detention of Sayed Abdellatif
FINALIST Michael McKenna and Paige Taylor, The Australian – Miss Dhu
FINALIST Paul Farrell, Guardian Australia – Australia’s Asylum Seeker
Policies
Print – Feature
FINALIST Ruth Pollard, Fairfax Media – The Rojava Revolution
FINALIST Martin McKenzie-Murray, The Saturday Paper – Nauru Rapes:
“There is a war on women”
FINALIST Michael Bachelard, Fairfax Media – High Tension
TV – News and Current Affairs
FINALIST Waleed Aly, Tom Whitty and KB Barker, The Project – Body of
Work
FINALIST Norman Hermant, ABC – Consumer Directed Care
FINALIST Jane Bardon and Franco Pistillo, ABC News and Current Affairs
Darwin – Detainess driven to suicide and self harm in immigration detention
FINALIST Kathy McLeish, Heidi Rexa, Michal McKinnon, ABC – Barrett
Centre Closure
TV – Documentary
FINALIST SBS Dateline, Shades of Bad?
FINALIST Peter Djigirr, David Gulpilil, Rolf de Heer, Molly Reynolds, Vertigo
Productions – Another Country
FINALIST Harry Bardwell, Kelrick Martin, SBS – Prison Songs
FINALIST Sophia Turkiewicz, Rod Freedman, Change Focus Media – Once
My Mother
Radio – News
FINALIST Nour Haydar, 2SER 107.3fm – Brothers in Faith, Equals in Humanity
FINALIST Bridget Brennan, ABC Radio Current Affairs – Drug addicted parents struggle to access rehabilitation
FINALIST Kristina Kukolja and Lindsey Arkley, SBS – Snedden Extradition
Case Tests Australia’s War Crimes Resolve
FINALIST Sally Sara, ABC – The Return
Radio – Documentary
FINALIST Sarah Dingle, ABC Radio National – Radicalisation, deradicalisation and the ‘sweet-talkers’ for IS
FINALIST Kirsti Melville, David LeMay, 360 Documentaries, ABC RN – The Storm
FINALIST Sharon Davis, Steven Tilley, Earshot, ABC RN – Inside the NSW Drug Court Series
FINALIST Claudia Taranto, Laurence Grissell and Steven Tilley, Earshot, ABC RN –
Workers without borders series
Photojournalism
FINALIST Chris Hopkins, Fairfax Media – Trauma
FINALIST Ingetje Tadros – Kennedy Hill
FINALIST Edwina Pickles, Fairfax Media – Inside the World’s Largest Refugee Camp
Online
FINALIST Matt Huynh, Matt Smith, Kylie Boltin, Nam Le, SBS – The Boat
FINALIST Eleanor Bell, Will Fitzgibbon, Chris Zubak Skees, International
Consortium of Investigative Journalists and Centre for Public Integrity – Fatal
Extraction
FINALIST Peter Djigirr, Rolf de Heer, Molly Reynolds, Vertigo Productions, Still Our Country
Special Categories
Promotion of Indigenous Recognition
FINALIST Jade Rose, Matt Dwyer, Paul Sinclair, Mirri Mirri – Big Boss: Last Leader of the Crocodile Islands
FINALIST Lois Kay Cook, Aboriginal Cultural Concepts and Catherin Marciniak, ABC Open – Babe in the Reeds: a story of massacres and resilience
FINALIST Steve Kinnane, Judy Harrison, Isabelle Reinecke, Griffith Review, Finger Money: The black and white of stolen wages
FINALIST Paul Daley, The Guardian Australia – Understanding Aboriginal Australia through history and culture
Promotion of Positive Images of the Older Person
FINALIST Dr Maggie Haertsch, Simon Cunich, Arts Health Institute – Eileen Kramer
FINALIST Amy Middleton, Alexis Desaulniers-Lea, Archer Magazine – Issue Four
FINALIST Monique Schafter, 730 ABC TV – Parkinson’s Patients Punch their way to Improvement
Increasing Awareness and Understanding of Women’s Rights and Issues (sponsored by the Office For Women, Department of Premier and Cabinet VIC)
FINALIST Michelle Aleksandrovics, Minelle Creed, SBS Radio – Breaking community silence on violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women
FINALIST Ginger Gorman, News.com.au – The Terrible Injury Often Overlooked in Domestic Violence
FINALIST Jenny Brockie, Kyle Taylor, Amanda Xiberras, Insight SBS – Sexual Harassment
Promotion of Children’s Rights and Issues
FINALIST Erin O’Dwyer, Marie Claire – What Do You Do?
FINALIST Jenny Brockie, Kyle Taylor, Alix Piatek, Insight SBS – Holroyd High
FINALIST Adam Morton, The Sunday Age – Locked in Limbo
FINALIST Matt Wade, Sydney Morning Herald – Girl mothers and famine survivors: Inside the world’s biggest refugee camp
FINALIST Kathy McLeish, Heidi Rexa, Michael McKinnon, ABC – Barrett Centre Closure
Promotion of Multicultural Issues (sponsored by the Australian Multicultural Foundation and Scanlon Foundation)
FINALIST Ges D’Souza and Tim Wilson, ABC TV – Just Call Jamal
FINALIST Michael Bradley, The Drum – Collection of Articles
FINALIST Jenny Brockie, Kyle Taylor, Alix Piatek, Insight SBS – Holroyd High
FINALIST Sarah Dingle, ABC Radio National – Radicalisation, deradicalisation and the ‘sweet talkers’ for IS
Promotion of Disability Rights and Issues
FINALIST Jeannette Francis, SBS The Feed – Spectrum of Hope
FINALIST Rachel Carbonell, Chris Bullock, Leila Shunna, ABC Radio National – Stuck in God’s Waiting Room
FINALIST Amelia Paxman, Sally Wortley, Veronica Fury, WildBear Entertainment
– Crack Up
Promotion of Climate Change Issues
FINALIST Waleed Aly and Tom Whitty, The Project – Renewable Energy Target
FINALIST Adam Morton, The Sunday Age – The Road to Paris
FINALIST Eric Campbell, Brieta Hague, David Martin, Scott Monor, ABC
– Southern Exposure
UNAA Media Peace Awards 2015
Tags: UNAA Media Peace Awards