Sport Australia Media Awards – Wikipedia

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The Sport Australia Media Awards were established in 2002 to recognise excellence in Australian sports journalism and broadcasting. The awards focus on analytical and insightful reporting and the presentation of sport and sporting issues. The awards are the only dedicated sports media awards in Australia. The Walkley Awards do have several sports categories.[1]

The most prestigious award is the Lifetime Achievement Award that recognises exceptional service to sports journalism over an extended period of time. This award is determined by the Sport Australia Board.[1]

Lifetime Achievement Award[edit]

Best Reporting of an Issue in Australian Sport[edit]

Year Journalists Comments
2002 Kate McClymont and Anne Davies (Sydney Morning Herald) Bulldogs salary cap scandal
2003 Kyle Patterson (SBS) Soccer’s Crawford Reform Process.
2004 Michael Davis (The Australian) His Fragile Brilliance (James Hird)
2005 Neil Jameson (Inside Sport) ‘Professional Foul’
2006 Nick McCallum (Fox Footy) ‘Blowing the whistle’
2007 Robert Drane and Ian Kennins (Inside Sport) Goodbye Grassroots
2008 Gerard Ryle and Jacquelin Magnay (Sydney Morning Herald) Firepower
2009 Mike Hurst (Daily Telegraph) Caster Semenya
2010 Adrian Proszenko, Brad Walter, Greg Prichard and others (Fairfax Media) Thunderstruck
2011 Greg Prichard and Chris Barrett (Sydney Morning Herald) Want a Bet?
2012 Daniel Lane (Fairfax Media) ‘For 30 years, they had a monster in their midst’
2013 Andrew Holden (The Age) Essendon FC drug scandal
2014 Michael Warner, Mark Robinson and Chip Le Grand (Herald Sun and The Australian) Essendon drugs scandal
2015 Caro Meldrum-Hanna, Sam Clark and Max Murch (ABC Four Corners) ‘Making a killing’
2016 Nick Tabakoff (Daily Telegraph) Gotcha: The Parramatta Eels Salary Cap Scandal
2017 Louise Milligan, Lisa McGregor and Trish Drum (ABC Four Corners) ‘After the Game’,
2018 Leo Schlink (Herald Sun) ‘The big fix’
2019 Shark Island Productions The Final Quarter
2020 Jessica Halloran and Julian Linden, The Australian and The Daily Telegraph ‘On Thin Ice: Katia’s Story’
2021 Selina Steele, Michael Cain, Julian Linden
Adrian Arciuli, Anna Henderson, Abdullah Alikhil
Tackling abuse in football, The Daily Telegraph
The Taliban Takeover, SBS

Best Coverage of a Sporting Event[edit]

Best Individual Sport Coverage[edit]

Best Sport Profile[edit]

Year Journalists Story coverage
2005 Angus Fontaine (Inside Cricket) The Warrior Within’ (Justin Langer)
2006 Broadcast Media – Ben Cheshire (ABC Australian Story)
Print Media – Peter Lalor (The Australian)
‘One Perfect Day’ (Death of cyclist Amy Gillett)
‘Mongrel Streak’
2007 Broadcast Media – Wendy Page and Ian Harley (ABC Australian Story)
Print Media – Anthony Sharwood Alpha Magazine
‘Man of the Century’ (Barry ‘Nugget’ Rees)
‘Running for his life’
2008 Broadcast Media – (ABC Australian Story)
Print – Media – Caroline Wilson (The Age)
‘She’s not there’ (Sally Robbins)
‘How football failed one of its own’
2009 Broadcast Media – Roger Carter (ABC Australian Story)
Print Media – Jessica Halloran (Fairfax Media)
‘When We Were Racers’ (Sir Jack Brabham)
‘Jelena Dokic’
2010 Broadcast Media – John Taylor (ABC)
Print Media – Amanda Hooton (Good Weekend Magazine)
‘Boxing hopeful’ (Dane Mulivai)
‘Mark Webber – Mark 1’
2011 Broadcast Media – Mary Gearin(ABC 7.30 Report)
Print Media – Robert Drane (Inside Sport)
‘Mick and David’ (Mick Malthouse and David Buttifant)
‘Bloodlines’ (Adam Goodes)
2012 Broadcast Media – Denise Reardon (Fox Sports)
Print Media – Paul Connolly (The Global Mail)
Profiles: Julian Huxley
‘The fastest man you’ve never heard of’ (Josh Ross)
2013 Broadcast Media – Caitlin Shea and Roger Carter (ABC)
Print Media – Wayne Smith (The Australian)
Know Thy Enemy
That Sinking Feeling
2014 Broadcast Media -Ryan Smith, Denise Reardon, Frank Chidiac, Maria Cardomatis
and Lisa Shaunessy
(Fox Sports) and South Sydney Media)
Print Media – Jake Niall (The Age)
‘Slammin’ Sam’ (Sam Burgess)

‘Inside the world of Liam Jurrah’

2015 Broadcast Media – Brad Smith, Mike Hirchfield and Mick Neill (Fox Footy)
Print media – Robert Drane (Inside Sport)
‘Dan Menzel – a long way home’
‘The blame game’ (Ahmed Saad)
2016 Broadcast Media – Winsome Denyer, Tim Wilson and Marc Smith(ABC Australian Story)
Print Media – Will Swanton (The Australian)
‘True Grit – David Pocock’
‘Jarryd Hayne’
2017 Broadcast Media – Adrian Brown (Whooshka Media)
Print Media – Grantlee Kieza (The Courier-Mail)
Digital Media – Nathan Ryan (Fox Sports), ‘
‘Outsiders’
‘Prized Fighter – Jeff Horn’
‘Beyond the Game: Inside the NRL World’
2018 Broadcast Media – Andy Maher (1116 SEN)
Print Media – Will Swanton (The Australian)
Jarrod Lyle interview
‘Is this bloke a thug’ (Robert Whittaker)
2019 Broadcast Media – Josh Cable, Marcus Cobbledick (Good Thing Productions)
Print Media – Samantha Lane (The Sydney Morning Herald & The Age)
‘Collingwood: From the Inside Out’,
‘Adam Goodes’
2020 Broadcast – Adrian Brown, Richard Ostroff, Whooshka Media and Cricket Australia
Iain Payten, The Sydney Morning Herald
‘The Test – A New Era for Australia’s Team’
‘Judging Jane Saville’
2021 Broadcast Media – Australian Story ABC TV
Written Media – Konrad Marshall, Good Weekend
Luc Longley: One Giant Leap
Patty Mills: All the right moves

Best Coverage of Sport for People with a Disability[edit]

Best Sports Journalism from Rural or Regional media[edit]

Year Journalists Story title
2002 Brett Kohlhagen (Border Mail)
2003 Gerard Walsh (Warwick Daily News) Polocrosse World Cup Coverage
2004 Daniel DeNardi (The Liverpool Champion) ‘No Place to Call Home’
2005 Kim Sporton (Bayside Weekly) Exploration of VFL football team, the Sandringham Zebras
2006 Luke Turgeon (Gold Coast Bulletin) ‘Body of work’
2007 Aaron Kearney ABC Radio ‘Bringing the World Game to Newcastle’
2008 Richard Schmeiszl Sentinel-Times Newspaper ‘Football Crisis’
2009 Samantha Derrick WIN News Wollongong ‘Never Too Old: Seniors in Sport’
2010 Andrew Piva (Cairns Post)
Tim Doutré (Star News Group)
‘All about the game for life’
‘Are player payments killing the game?’
2011 Allison Jess (ABC Goulburn Murray) ‘Coby’s Back’
2012 Newcastle Herald Sports Department ‘Trouble in Tinkler Town’
2013 Michael Warren (Mackay Telegraph) Barba Inc
2014 Robert Dillon (Newcastle Herald) ‘Bye, bye boganarie’
2015 Matthew McInerney (APN Fraser Coast Chronicle) ‘Body of work’
2016 Robert Dillon (Newcastle Herald) ‘Dreams and Knightmares’
2017 Grant Edwards (Sunshine Coast Daily) ‘Multisport Mecca’
2018 Mackenzie Colahan (Central and North Burnett Times) Decline of rugby league in outback Queensland’
2019 Stuart Walmsley RUGBY.com.au
2020 Kieran Pender, Mike Bowers, Freelance and Guardian Australia “From the ashes of catastrophe: how ‘aqua therapy’ is helping a town through 2020′
2021 Donna Page (Newcastle Herald) Newcastle cricket’s turf war

Best Depiction of Inclusive Sport[edit]

From 2009 to 2017 called Best Coverage of Women in Sport.

Year Journalists Coverage title
2009 Merryn Sherwood (Canberra Times) ‘Canberra United – Making a Difference for Women’s Sport’
(Special commendation)
2010 Raelee Tuckerman (Bendigo Advertiser)
2011 Luke Waters (SBS) ‘A Belt that Fits’
2012 Canberra Times ‘A capital season for women in Canberra’
2013 Warren Partland (The Advertiser) Raising Netball’s Status
2014 Matt Weiss, Denise Reardon and Kelli Underwood (Fox Sports) ‘Breaking Ground’
2015 SBS The 2015 women’s FIFA World Cup
2016 Network Ten 2015-16 Women’s Big Bash League
2017 Fox Footy AFL Women’s coverage
2018 Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Outer Sanctum Podcast
2019 Media Stockade ‘Power Meri’
2020 Amanda Shalala, ABC ‘In Her Words’
2021 Peter Dickson The Ripple Effect, Dickson Films

Best Sports Photography[edit]

Year Photographer Image Title
2002 Bruce Long (The Courier-Mail) ‘Grabba’
2003 Kristi Miller (The Sunday Telegraph) The Gus and Joey saga
2004 Ray Kennedy (The Age)
Vincent Long (Inside Sport)
Doubles’ photo of US doubles pair, Mike and Bob Bryan
‘Park Life’
2005 Nicole Garmston (Herald Sun) ‘Bird Strike’
2006 Warren Clark (Inside Sport) ‘The Fight’
2007 Michael Dodge Herald Sun)
Alex Coppel Sunday Herald Sun
Dream Catchers
Tiwi Magpies
2008 Michael Dodge Herald Sun) Football Life
2009 Quinn Rooney (Getty Images) Water Relief
2010 Craig Golding (Getty Images) 2010 World Masters Games
2011 Mark Dadswell (Getty Images) PNG Cricket
2012 Scott Barbour Getty Images Rugby League 2012
2013 Rohan Thomson (Canberra Times) Canberra Cavalry
2014 Cameron Spencer (Getty Images) ‘Rain Dance’
2015 Brett Costello (Daily Telegraph) ‘Shark Splash’
2016 Cameron Spencer (Getty Images) Say Cheese
2017 Michael Dodge (Getty Images) ‘Cyril Magic’
2018 Ryan Pierse (Getty Images) ‘‘Cop it on the Chin’
2019 Michael Willson ‘The Kick’ AFL Photo of Tayla Harris
2020 Scott Barbour, Australian Associated Press ‘The Melbourne Cup’
2021 Jay Town Eye on the ball, Tennis Australia

Best Analysis of the Business of Sport[edit]

Year Journalists/Media Story Title
2013 John Stensholt (Australian Financial Review) Cricket Broadcast Rights
2014 Ramy Haidar (Inside Sport) ‘The Cyberscrimmage’
2015 Simon King (The Australian’s Deal Magazine) ‘Charting a bold course’
2016 Jeff Centenera (Inside Sport) ‘The 0.1 percenters’
2017 Jack Kerr (Freelance) ‘Sports Betting Industry Analysis’
2018 John Stensholt and Max Mason (Australian Financial Review) ‘Cricket Broadcast Rights’
2019 Tracey Holmes The Ticket, ABC

Best Contribution to Sport via Digital Media[edit]

Innovation in Sports Media[edit]

Year Media
2020 Fox Sports Audio, Virtual Crowd and Flying Fox Camera, Fox Sports Australia
2021 Optus Sport, Social Media Innovation, UEFA EURO 2020

Discontinued Awards[edit]

Up until 2009 named Community Sports Award

Year Journalists Story Title
2002 David Pearson and Brian Webb of 104.1FM, Darwin
2003 Nick McCallum (Nine Network Today Show) ‘Manangatang Horse story’
2004 Mark Howard (Seven Network) ‘Footy From the Hearts’
2005 Brad McEwan (Network Ten) ‘Local Hero’ series
2006 Nick McCallum (Fox Footy Channel) Footy Fanatics
2007 Travis Cranley (Inside Sport) ‘Disabling sports’
2008 Paul Kennedy ‘Drug Game’
2009 Travis Cranley (Inside Sport) ‘Kiddie Wars’
2010 Mary Gearin – (ABC 7.30 Report) ‘Majak Daw’
2011 Grantlee Kieza (The Courier-Mail) ‘Million Dollar Noby’
2012 Luke Waters (SBS) ‘Race Game’
2013 Will Swanton (The Australian) ‘Life saver’
2014 McGuire Media (Foxtel) ‘The Recruit — Indigenous Carnival episode’
2015 Dan Goldberg, Adam Kay and Anthony De Sylva (Mint Pictures and ABC) ‘Pitch battle’
2016 Tim Sheridan and Matt Weiss (Fox Footy) ‘From Little Things’
2017 Allyson Horn (ABC) ‘Afghan AFL’

Best Journalism on Australian Sports Commission-related Programs[edit]

Youth Sport Media Award[edit]

Year Journalists
2002 Amanda Smith of ABC Radio National
2003 Steve Grove and Tony Thomas ( (Daily Telegraph)
2004 Shaun Hollis (The Messenger)

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References[edit]