Tuesday … 69th Walkley Awards …

So … what does one do on a Tuesday night in November ? Last Tuesday I made a flying 30 hour visit back to Sydney to attend the media industries ‘night of nights’ … The Walkley Awards … at the International Convention Centre (ICC).

The catalyst for the lightening short visit was the inclusion of my work (stills, video and drone) in the Courier/Sunday Mail team documentary production “Prayed Upon: A Real Life Hand Maid’s Tale” which was selected as a Finalist in the ‘News – Current Affairs – Short Film’ category of the awards.

Our team … comprising Kate Kyriacou, Greg Stolz, Rhylea Millar, Natalie Gregg, Melanie Pilling, Anna Caldwell and myself … were up against works in the category by co-finalists 60 Minutes and the ABC. Our teams work told the story of a frightening ‘cult’ based on the Atherton Tablelands in far north Queensland.

Was the first time I’ve had the privilege to be a finalist in the Walkley Awards outside of the pure ‘photojournalism’ Nikon-Walkley categories side of things … so that was a little different.

Very kindly, Nikon Australia’s marketing manager Kylie Dredge arranged a seat at the Nikon tables for myself alongside my photography friends and colleagues and the Nikon crew. That was a blast !

Good mates all … AFP’s David Gray took out the ‘News Photography Award’ with his remarkable 20,000 ASA image of freed Julian Assange “Walk to Freedom”, SMH’s Nick Moir won ‘Press Photographer of the Year’, Getty’s Quinn Rooney claimed the ‘Sports Photography’ gong for “Australian’s in the Pool”, whilst Kate Geraghty (SMH) was awarded ‘Nikon Photo of the Year’ for her image, “Funeral at Al-Aqsa”. Getty’s Diego Fedele won ‘Feature/photographic Essay’ and Chris Hopkins image for ‘Good Weekend’ won the ‘Portrait Prize’.

Obviously there was much ‘celebrating’ to do. The Nikon team led by Kylie duly obliged and made sure we did so well into the next morning. Congrats to all my mates and colleagues … winners and finalists … the Walkley’s and the MEAA … and thanks to all at Nikon. (It’s been a pleasure to use Nikon’s fabulous products for many decades … they really do so much to support the photojournalists in the industry.)

Oh Yes !! Back to our ‘Current Affairs’ finalist selection. Sadly we were beaten to the pen nib winners trophy by the ’60 Minutes’ entry, but that didn’t stop our Queensland team celebrating just being in Sydney for a fabulous eve amongst the very best of Australia’s media.

(NB … it’s not often my dinner suit gets an airing 😉 )

Main image © News Ltd … below … still, drone images and video by © Brian Cassey