Matt Brown wins Radio Walkley for AM reports from Mosul

ABC Foreign Correspondent Matt Brown has won a Walkley Award for his reports from Mosul chronicling the Iraqi/Kurdish attack that liberated the city from Islamic State control.

The sounds of mortars and relentless machine-gun fire are a constant reminder of the risks Matt Brown faces to take listeners to the front line of the war against IS. From news pieces edited in the field to working contacts and investigative, shoe-leather reporting, Brown brings the war on IS home to Australians.

“It’s no mean feat to convey all the stress, violence and humanity of war in three minutes, but Brown manages it with stories that are brave, gripping, and make the best of the immediacy of the audio platform,” according to the Walkley judges.

“Mosul Front” was recorded and edited in the field and filed an hour before broadcast; “Mosul Battle” takes the listener into the city itself to hear from citizens; “Turkey Terror List” revealed a long list of names being watched, including more than 400 Australians. It’s an immense and complex ongoing story with a high degree of difficulty, and the judges thought Brown ticked every box.

Listen to the award winning reports here: Mosul Front; Mosul Battle; Turkey Terror List

Michael Green and the Behind the Wire team from The Wheeler Centre won the award for Best Audio Feature, with  The Messenger, a podcast which gives “an unprecedented insight into daily life in detention on Manus Island.”

The Messenger is a co-production of Behind The Wire (Michael Green, André Dao, Hannah Reich, Bec Fary, Abdul Aziz Muhamat) and the Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas (Jon Tjhia, Sophie Black) in Melbourne, Australia. Behind the Wire is a volunteer-run oral history project, documenting the stories of people who have been detained by the Australian government after seeking asylum in Australia.

ABC Radio Current Affairs reporter Peter Ryan, won the Major News Event Walkley for his coverage of  “Commonwealth Bank Scandal – accused of 53,000 breaches of anti-money laundering and terror financing laws” with a series of reports in the banking scandal:
Breaking News – CBA risks massive fines over anti-money laundering & terrorism financing law breaches; CBA chief executive Ian Narev; Ian Narev to retire; APRA announces independent inquiry into CBA; ASIC to investigate CBA disclosure to stock exchange

Fairfax Media’s Michael Bachelard and Kate Geraghty, won the Gold Walkley for  Stories of Mosul

The full winners list can be found here.

See our related report on Paul Murphy’s speech at the Awards here.

 

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