Best coverage of rural and regional sport

This award is for media based outside major metropolitan areas and individuals that travel to cover sport in a rural and/or regional area. It recognises exceptional coverage of sport in rural and regional Australia - this may include coverage of issues as well as match reports, match previews, profiles or any other well-researched coverage. Community impact will be considered.

Winner

James Gardiner, Newcastle Herald ‘Newcastle Jets - a turbulent year for Newcastle’s flagship football side’

The future of the Newcastle Jets in the A-League, opens in a new tab dominated headlines in the Newcastle Herald. With the club being bankrolled by the owners of four rival teams who closely guarded information relating to the future ownership, James Gardiner demonstrated his investigative skills to produce a series of exclusive articles that were followed up nationally by other media outlets. As well as breaking news, Gardiner reported on the impact the uncertainty surrounding the club’s future had on the players, staff and football in the region. Alongside his reporting on the ownership saga, Gardiner provided match reports, profiles and features, opens in a new tab.

Highly Commended

Jeremy Story Carter, ABC ‘Wahgunyah, undefeated’

Wahgunyah, undefeated , opens in a new tabcaptures the guts and heart of rural sport and celebrates the community that sits underneath every defiant effort. Having not won a match in over 1,000 days, Wahgunyah’s seniors football team became an online laughingstock, garnering national attention for its scarcely believable losses. Behind the social media jokes lay real pain and a club left to question its very survival. Jeremy Story Carter’s visually rich, well researched feature documents how the club turned inward to fortify its future, in the process making real choices about the sort of community it wanted to be – one that was more inclusive and truer to its own values.

Finalists

Josh Partridge, The Examiner

Josh Partridge's body of work encapsulates what regional journalism is all about - telling readers what they want to know, sharing people’s stories, and putting smiles on faces. His pieces feature several exclusive new stories, including a cricket side’s disqualification from a grand final, a story of state significance on two of Tasmania’s most-successful football teams pursuing a breakaway league, and a junior club folding. Also included is a feature obituary and lighter pieces covering the Tasmania Devils’ naming battle with Warner Bros and profile on the Whitemore Cricket Club which is thriving against all odds.

Lillian Rangiah, ABC ‘Remote sport trials and triumphs’ (Rising Star nominee)

Lillian Rangiah travelled to north-east Arnhem Land with the hopes of interviewing players and elders from the Djarrak football club, who were grieving the loss of three teammates the previous year. It wasn’t until she had spent three evenings at training that they trusted her to tell the full story of their loss in a nuanced, culturally sensitive way. Over two weeks embedded in the remote town of Nhulunbuy, Rangiah also shed light on the unequal playing field on which young dance performers from the regions compete, opens in a new tab and documented the efforts of remote Aboriginal women to combat ongoing discrimination in sport., opens in a new tab