ABC journalists jointly named Queensland Journalist of the Year

ABC journalists Anne Connolly, Ali Russell and Stephanie Zillman have been jointly named Queensland Journalist of the Year at the 2022 Queensland Clarion Awards for their Four Corners report “State Control”.

The year-long investigation into Public Guardian and Trustee agencies around the country, which currently control the lives of around 50,000 Australians, led to a public apology from the Queensland State Government and has triggered two inquiries.

The judges said the work was rewarded not only for shining a light on the exploitation of vulnerable Queenslanders who placed their trust in a public institution, but also for the complexity and degree of difficulty in bringing the story to air.

“People under the control of the Public Trustee are gagged from speaking out,” they said. “Journalists who identify them can be criminally charged. The ABC had to go to the Supreme Courts in Queensland and Western Australia to win the right to show the public for the first time how tens of thousands of Australians live under state control.”

In all ABC journalists and teams won 11 awards at the Clarions, including for investigative and rural journalism, reporting on health and science and Indigenous issues, radio and TV news and current affairs, regional and community reporting, innovation and camerawork.

Ellie Grounds from ABC Western Queensland was named New Journalist of the Year.

Full list of ABC finalists and winners

Major Awards

2022 Journalist of the Year 

Anne Connolly, Ali Russell and Stephanie Zillman, Four Corners, ABC, “State Control”

Investigative Journalism

• Anne Connolly, Stephanie Zillman, Ali Russell, Four Corners, ABC, “State Control” WINNER
• Mark Willacy, Josh Robertson, Stephanie March and Kyle Taylor, Four Corners, ABC, “Ghosts of Timor”.

All Media categories

Rural Journalism  

• Jon Daly, ABC, “Big Pharma’s QLD Secret”
• Nathan Morris, Baz Ruddick and Jeremy Story Carter, ABC“Boom, Bust and Mistrust” WINNER
• Kristy Sexton-McGrath and Brendan Mounter, ABC“Conquer the Corrugations: The Cape York walk changing lives”

Health & Science Reporting  

• Emily Sakzewski, Georgina Piper, Colin Gourlay and Matt Liddy, ABC News, “This is what long covid feels like” WINNER
• ABC News Story Lab,  “Untangling the climate mess”

Business Journalism

• Michael Atkin, ABC“Scrutinising the failures of the Morrison government and ASIC after the Sterling Group collapse”

Commentary, Analysis, Opinion & Critique

• Matt Wordsworth, ABC, Qld Politics

Sports Journalism

• Amanda Walker, Matthew Wordsworth, Rebecca Richardson, Lexy Hamilton-Smith and Lily Nothling, ABC News, “Brisbane Wins the Olympic Bid 2032”

Multicultural Reporting

• Rory Callinan, ABC , “Escaping Afghanistan”
• Marian Faa, ABC, “West Papuan students in scholarship turmoil” 

Social Issues Reporting    

• Paula Doneman, ABC, “Missing Susan”

Indigenous Issues Reporting     

• Michael Atkin, ABC, “A First Nations Family’s Desperate Plea for Answers – What Happened to Ms Bernard?” WINNER
• Jon Daly, ABC,“Repatriating a stolen artifact”

Broadcast Interview 

• Quentin Hull, ABC,“Baggy Green brotherhood”

Innovation   

• Colin Gourlay, Georgina Piper, Tim Leslie, Cristen Tilley and Matt Liddy, ABC News,“The Australian Election map has been lying to you” WINNER
• Tim Leslie, Colin Gourlay and Cristen Tilley, ABC News,“From Gympie to Grafton, floods seen from the air”
• Emily Sakzewski, Georgina Piper, Colin Gourlay and Matt Liddy, ABC News, “This is what long COVID feels like” 

New Journalist of the Year  

• Ellie Grounds, ABC “Body of Work – ABC Western Queensland and triple j Hack” WINNER

Radio/Audio categories

Radio News and Current Affairs 

• Ellie Grounds, triple j Hack,“Young Australians and the cost of living crisis”
• Annie Guest, ABC,“Floodwaters devastate: communities help”
• Rachel Riga and Kate McKenna, ABC News, “K’gari (Fraser Island) bushfire RTI” WINNER

Radio Documentary and podcast

• Marian Faa, ABC,“West Papuan students in scholarship turmoil”
• Josh Robertson and the Background Briefing Team, ABC, “Unmasking Monsters”

Photography categories 

Photographic Essay

• Solua Middleton, ABC, “My Erub home : The island that shaped the Torres Strait”

Television/Audio Visual categories

TV News Report 

• Lexy Hamilton-Smith, ABC, “ABC Flooded In – How I covered Flood Crisis with no Studio Access”

TV Current Affairs, Feature, Documentary or Special Broadcast

• Ella Archibald-Binge, ABC, “The changing face of homelessness”
• Anne Connelly, Stephanie Zillman, and Ali Russell, ABC,“State Control” WINNER

The John Bean Memorial Award for Television Camerawork 

• Michael Lloyd, ABC, “Fighting for Equality” WINNER
• Nathan Morris and Baz Ruddick, ABC, “Boom, Bust and Mistrust”

Regional and Community categories

Regional And Community Feature Article or Opinion Piece   

• Ellie Grounds, ABC, “Meet the women balancing the ledger for orphans caught in a land of hostility” 

Regional and Community – Broadcast Report  

• Marian Faa, ABC, ” Non-alien, non-citizen: The plight of Indigenous people born overseas”
• Nathan Morris, Baz Ruddick and Jeremy Story Carter, ABC “Boom, Bust and Mistrust” WINNER
• Erin Semmler and Lucy Loram, ABC, “Hike for healing”

Media queries: Sally Jackson | ABC Communications | jackson.sally@abc.net.au