Best sport profile – broadcast

This award recognises the best example of responsible and well-researched profiling of an individual athlete, team or coach by broadcast media. This can include online audio/visual media, including podcasts.

2020 Winner

Adrian Brown, Richard Ostroff, ‘The Test – A New Era for Australia’s Team’, Whooshka Media and Cricket Australia

The Test: A New Era for Australia’s Team, opens in a new tab, is an eight-part docuseries that focuses on the Australian men’s cricket team following the appointment of Justin Langer as coach. The Test explores the themes of redemption and rebuilding, giving viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the team’s efforts to not only reclaim their position as players but as ambassadors for the sport and their country following the 2018 ball-tampering scandal.

Adrian and Richard also acknowledge Amazon Prime Video for producing the series.

Highly commended

Laurence Billiet, ‘FREEMAN’, ABC TV + iview

To mark the 20th anniversary of the Sydney 2000 - Olympic Games, Cathy Freeman shared her story for the first time in a one-hour documentary for the ABC. Drawing on archival footage and intimate conversations with Cathy, the film takes viewers through her remarkable sporting career and the frenzied build-up to the Olympics against the backdrop of Indigenous Reconciliation. FREEMAN was a landmark TV event, opens in a new tab that attracted over 1 million viewers, making it one of the most watched documentaries of 2020

Finalists

Chris Gillett, ‘Tayla Harris’, 7.30, ABC TV

Australian rules footballer Tayla Harris was stunned when a photo of her kicking a ball went viral in March 2019. It ignited a deluge of online abuse, but the AFLW player and professional boxer turned it into a moment to inspire women and girls everywhere. Chris Gillett spoke to Tayla and her parents, opens in a new tab about Tayla’s childhood, her passion for playing footy and the abuse and threats Tayla received over the photo.

Quentin McDermott, Greg Hassall, Rebecca Armstrong, Ian Harley, ‘Beating the Blues’, Australian Story, The ABC

Without rugby league, Greg Inglis was spiraling into depression. In this exclusive Australian Story, opens in a new tab, Inglis opens up about years of misdiagnosis, self-medication, and how he was finally able to make sense of the overwhelming mood swings that plagued his life. As he prepared to resume his stellar career in the UK, he spoke with extraordinary candour about his mental health, to ensure that others with the same condition don’t suffer in silence.