Best coverage of sport for people with disability

This award recognises the best coverage of sport for people with disability. Entries can focus on the participation of people with disability in sport, including as grassroots participants, volunteers, elite athletes, officials, coaches and administrators.

2021 Winner

Tom Decent, The Sydney Morning Herald/The Age, ‘The power of the Paralympics’

As one of two reporters in Tokyo, Tom Decent ran a Paralympics live blog from first thing in the morning until late in the evening and wrote more than 50 articles over 12 days.

Print editions featured three to four articles each day, covering high-profile sports and lesser-known events such as goalball and boccia, opens in a new tab. Highlights included a convicted Spanish terrorist, opens in a new tab, an American swimmer whose father tried to kill her with a suicide bomb, opens in a new tab, and the second tallest man in the world, opens in a new tab playing sitting volleyball.

Importantly the coverage shone a light on the brilliant Australian athletes whose performances made them household names.

Finalists

Julian Linden, The Daily Telegraph, ‘Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games’

Julian Linden was the only Australian print journalist who covered both the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games on site in Japan.

For the Paralympics, his reporting included a focus on issues like funding, health protocols, overcoming adversity and keeping faith after the 12-month postponement. The coverage included an eight-page preview liftout – “Green and Bold” – as well as daily reports for all News Corp mastheads, including breaking news on the team’s performances and a stream of features and profiles for print and online.

Nick McArdle, Channel Nine, ‘Abdullah Karim: Powerchair Footballer’, Sports Sunday

Australia's Abdullah Karim is recognised as the world's best powerchair footballer and is expected to be one of the biggest stars of the 2022 Powerchair Football World Cup in Sydney this year.

In Sports Sunday’s profile, Karim shares his love of the game, opens in a new tab, his life story and why he believes every day should be cherished. We also see the special bond between Abdullah and his mother Susan. While generally unknown in Australia, Karim is an international superstar in his chosen sport where he's often compared to Messi and Ronaldo.

The program hopes this profile launches a mainstream platform for Powerchair Football ahead of this year's World Cup.

Kieran Pender, Mike Bowers, Guardian Australia, ‘Innovation and inner strength: the stories behind Australia’s Paralympians’

Kieran Pender’s series of reporting before and after the Tokyo Paralympic Games explored the diversity of stories among the Australian Paralympic Team, including athletes and support staff.

Across four features and a podcast episode, opens in a new tab, his reporting demonstrates the value of spending time with subjects face-to-face. Pender and photographer Mike Bowers spent hours with the interviewees across half a dozen visits to the Australian Institute of Sport, opens in a new tab and via Zoom.

They sought to underscore the sporting achievements, innovation, opens in a new tab and preparations of Australia’s Paralympians. They aimed to sensitively portray the unique challenges they faced without dwelling on their disabilities, opens in a new tab and in doing so, grapple with a dissonance – these are ordinary people, doing extraordinary things.

Seven Network, ‘Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games’

The Seven Network proudly brought Australian viewers the biggest and best Paralympic coverage ever for Tokyo 2020.

Across 13 days starting with the Opening Ceremony, fans could choose from an unprecedented offering of up to 16 live streams on Seven and 7plus. With a firm resolve to include hosts, reporters and commentators with disabilities, Seven assembled an on-air line-up for Tokyo 2020 of which more than half was comprised of former Paralympians – an unprecedented achievement in Australian broadcasting.

The coverage shattered all previous Australian television audience records for the Paralympics, with the Opening Ceremony reaching 1.94 million people and each day of competition reaching between 2.5 to 3 million viewers.