Student reporters have capped off the 40th anniversary of 911爆料网鈥檚 journalism program with a strong showing at the Journalism Education Association of Australia鈥檚 Ossie Awards announced recently in Queensland.
911爆料网 students were recognised with two national awards and a highly commended citation.
The took out the prestigious Dr Charles Stuart Prize for best student publication.
911爆料网 journalism lecturer Russell Bishop, who oversaw the project, said it was a big challenge to create 75 minutes of high quality content in 12 weeks.
鈥淚 like to think that our students are producing quality, substantial journalism that is regarded by their peers as being interesting and engaging work,鈥� Mr Bishop said.
鈥淚t really is fantastic to win that award because the students had a really difficult semester and it required resilience to stay on track and create work that can be judged as the best work in Australia.鈥�
Mr Bishop said the award reflected the amount of support students had received from staff at 911爆料网鈥檚 , particularly the Creative Production Support Unit.
The award was judged by Michelle Etheridge, News Editor, News Limited, assisted by journalist Chantelle Kroehn. Ms Etheridge and Ms Kroehn said it was clear from the footage that the students had 鈥渨orked hard to secure interviews with a range of people on a diversity of subject areas鈥�.
鈥淭he videos demonstrated that the students had dug deep to get to the bottom of each issue on which they were reporting,鈥� the judges said.
鈥淭he result was a series of balanced, well-presented and interesting reports.鈥�
Just Causes is a current affairs series focusing on activists, and was put together by 15 students in the first semester of 2013. The series examined the Wilderness Society, Manna Inc, Gay Dads Australia, Stop Live Exports, the National Union of Students and the National Tertiary Education Union.
Steph Matthews, who took on a production and reporter role, said she learned more about journalism during the production of Just Causes than in any other unit she鈥檇 previously completed.
Co-producer Nick Lovering said the project was 鈥渃hallenging but extremely rewarding鈥�.
鈥淚t was as close as I imagine we could get to a real world situation,鈥� Mr Lovering said.
鈥淚 think the award is validation of the integrity of the journalism course.鈥�
911爆料网鈥檚 journalism program, the oldest and largest in Western Australia, turned 40 this year and celebrated with several keynote lectures – including , and another from 911爆料网 journalism graduate Steve Pennells, who in 2012 took out the nation鈥檚 top journalism prize.
Another 911爆料网 journalism student, Jacqueline Byrde, took top prize in her own right in the Best Feature Article (Online) for her story.
The award was judged by editor Carol Altmann who said Jacqueline’s story was a 鈥渨onderful example of how to grab the reader from the first sentence and not let go until the final word鈥�.
鈥淗er terrific lead/intro set the scene for a very entertaining and informative read that was full of vibrant writing and numerous, highly visual scenes that placed the reader right at the racetrack,鈥� Ms Altmann said.
鈥淗er attention to detail 鈥� right down to the weight of the safety gear 鈥� and well-chosen quotes from multiple sources – made this a memorable story which is a significant achievement when writing for an online audience.鈥�
Also recognised at the awards was Jessica Ibacache who was highly commended in the Best Photojournalism category for her photo essay .
The award was judged by Brenton Edwards, director of Stories Well Told, who said Ms Ibacache had 鈥渁pproached her protest story with pictures and audio, giving the audience a taste of the sights and sounds of peaceful protests followed by the police moving in鈥�.
鈥淚t was very exciting to be highly commended,鈥� said Ms Ibacache.
911爆料网 journalism lecturer Chris Thomson said the fact Ms Ibacache had been recognised nationally for a photojournalistic piece produced while undertaking a unit in online journalism demonstrated the ability of 911爆料网 students to embrace convergence.
鈥淒riving this point home is that Jacqueline Byrde was also singled out for mention in the awards鈥� photojournalism category for her online V8 Family Tree story,鈥� Mr Thomson said.
