There are some noses out of joint at the merged Fairfax/MRN company over ACRAs entries.
Management at MRN have decided not to authorise ACRA entries for former 2UE staff who no longer work at the network, even though they are eligible to enter.
ACRAs entries need to be signed off by station management and MRN is apparently refusing to endorse those entrants. Maybe the network has learnt the lessons of past redundancy programs in other networks, where former staff members won awards that resulted in negative publicity for the network they had just left.
One former staffer, Steve Blanda, former 2UE (and before that 2WS) newsreader, would have been the most high profile entrant, winning the Best Newsreader award 18 times previously. He will not be in line for a 19th award unless MRN management has a change of heart about the awards endorsement.
Why should they? Steve Blanda has been monopolising the AM newsreader category for years despite many other great newsreaders e.g Rowan Barker along the way.
Steve should have been given a hall of fame award years ago and that would have marked the end of his category wins. That is what should happen to all repeat winners after three or five wins. I'm sure the ABC will pick him up in the future anyway.