2011 Journalism Awards

The Deans and Heads of Schools of Education recognise the important role journalists play in public policy debates and in raising community awareness of education. For more than 10 years the Australian Council of Deans of Education has offered these awards in recognition of the value of outstanding education journalism. The Federal Government provides sponsorship for these awards.

The winners were chosen by a selection panel comprising Ms Sue Spencer, Executive Producer ABC Four Corners, Ms Jenna Price, columnist for the Canberra Times and academic, University of Technology Sydney; and two deans of Education, Professor Geoff Riordan (University of Canberra) and Professor Rob Tierney (University of Sydney).

The Award winners were announced and presented with their prizes at the ACDE Annual Dinner on Monday 17 October. The winning journalists for 2011 are:

Minister's Award:

This prize was awarded jointly to:

Justine Ferrari , from The Australian published a series of four articles, commencing on 16 April 2011 that dealt with one of the most enduring public policy debates in our history -- public funding for non-government schools: "Children of the Whitlam education revolution", "Howard wanted to wean schools off funds", "Axe to fall on school funds deal" and "Private school funding 'flawed'".

The series was written to inform the general public about the complexities of the funding debate in the context of the current Gonski review of school education funding. Ferrari knows her history. She commenced the series with the Goulburn School Strike in July 1962 and covered the proceeding 50 years with a well-researched and well written investigation.

Justine was able to bring fresh information and insight to this issue, in particular by filling in the back story to the 2004 Howard government decision to maintain high levels of funding for non-government schools that would have been worse off under the new SES funding model - the so-called "Funding Guaranteed schools".

Quoting the then Education minister, Dr Brendan Nelson, she showed that the Howard government always intended this to be a short term measure and anticipated that this would have been resolved by 2012 with the SES model being fully applied by that stage. Non-government school funding has been a contentious issue for 50 years and Ferrari's research and detailed analysis of the issues has made a significant contribution to public understanding of this critically important education policy dilemma.

Andrew Stevenson and Anna Patty from The Sydney Morning Herald won for their two articles on the educational experiences and outcomes of Arabic students in Sydney schools: "Arabic-speaking student being 'left behind'" and "Arabic-speaking students have the smarts but shun selective system".

The first article drew attention to the relatively low percentage of Arabic children attending selective public schools and also contrasted this with the academic achievements of students at Malek Fahd, a private Islamic school ranked 15th in HSC results last year.

The second article titled "Arabic students being left behind" continued the investigation of the performance of Arabic students by interviewing teachers, principals and academics about the educational attainments of Arabic children.

The articles pose serious questions about the extent to which schools understand and address the needs of Arabic children, the complexities of the interaction among culture, schools and pedagogy, and more fundamentally, the nature of Australian society and our understanding of ourselves as a modern, multicultural society. Dealing with these weighty issues is a particular challenge for journalists who need to engage readers and tell compelling stories. Andrew and Anna's articles impressed the judges in this regard - the articles were well crafted, carefully researched, and engaging.

The winners shared the $5000 prize.

The Early Career Journalist:

(Entrants in this category must be under 30)

Eleanor Bell and Ed Giles from the ABC won for their online news special titled "Beating the Odds". They wrote "When western Sydney schoolgirl Kiesha Abrahams was reported missing on August 1, Eleanor Bell and Ed Giles went inside one such suburb, Kiesha's community of Mount Druitt, to ask locals to reveal their daily reality and to see what's being done to help children who are at risk."

Bell and Giles produced several video stories about aspects of life in Mt Druitt, including school education. They supplemented these stories with maps, data, and twitter feeds. The judges thought this was an excellent example of the "new" journalism afforded by the convergence of new media and the work is a moving and powerful contribution to the understanding of complex social issues and education.

The winners received $2000.

Student Journalism:

Harrison Tippet and Jane Vashti Ryan  for their video story "Regional Students Missing Out" broadcast on Channel 31, Newsline on 11 May 2011. The RMIT 3rd year journalism students produced an excellent story about the problems with the Independent Youth Allowance entitlements for inner and outer regional students. They conducted interviews with National Student Association representatives, NTEU officials, and a local parliamentarian as well as residents of a small country town that straddled one these boundaries resulting in different levels of Youth Allowance entitlements depending on which side of the street that they lived on.

The story was well researched and produced and addressed a significant policy problem that is having unintended consequences on young people from regional Australia seeking to access higher education.

The winners received $1000.

ACDE wishes to thank the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) for their continued support of this award.