Finalists announced for Sport Australia Media Awards

Sport Australia announces and congratulates the following finalists for the prestigious Sport Australia Media Awards, with winners to be announced at a gala ceremony in Melbourne early next year.

The Sport Australia Media Awards (#SportAUSMediaAwards) have been running since 2002 and are Australia’s only awards dedicated to recognising excellence in sports journalism, broadcasting, production and photography.

Finalists will be invited to a gala dinner in Melbourne on Thursday, 7 February, 2019. The ceremony will also honour a new recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for sports journalism, last awarded to Debbie Spillane.

Best reporting of an issue in sport

• Neil Breen, ‘One night in New York’, Nine News
• Leo Schlink, ‘The big fix’, The Herald Sun
• Nick Tabakoff, ‘The price of sporting glory’, The Australian
• Chris Barrett, ‘Sandpaper, lies and videotape’, The Sydney Morning Herald

Best individual sport coverage – broadcast

• Alister Nicholson, ABC
• Kelli Underwood, Fox Sports and ABC
• Bruce McAvaney, Seven Network
• Gerard Whateley, SEN Radio and Fox Footy
• Lucy Zelic, SBS

Best individual sport coverage – print

• Michael Gleeson, The Age
• Will Swanton, The Australian
• Andrew Webster, The Sydney Morning Herald
• Konrad Marshall, Good Weekend, Fairfax Media

Best individual sport coverage – digital

• Mary Konstantopoulos, Ladies Who League
• Michael Chammas, NRL.com
• Jacob Kuriype, Fox Sports
• Mark Howard, ‘The Howie Games’, Podcast One Australia

Best coverage of a sporting event

• The Sunday Age, ‘AFL Grand Final 2018’
• Seven Network, ‘Commonwealth Games 2018’
• Podcast One Australia, Triple M, ‘The Moment, The Fight’
• Seven Network, ‘Winter Olympics 2018’
• SBS, ‘2018 FIFA World Cup’

Best sports photography

• Scott Barbour, ‘Lightning Strikes’, Getty Images
• Quinn Rooney, ‘Ski Cross’, Getty Images
• Ryan Pierse, ‘Cop it on the chin’, Getty Images
• Michael Dodge, ‘Stop the Pigeon’, Getty Images

Best sport profile – print

• Adam Burnett, ‘Chris Lynn’s summer of living dangerously’,cricket.com.au
• Brendan Bradford, ‘The Luke Jackson story’, Perform Group/Sporting News Australia
• Will Swanton, ‘Is this bloke a thug?’, The Australian
• Michael Chammas, ‘James Roberts’ amazing transformation’, NRL.com
• Konrad Marshall, ‘Second serve: The stunning rise of Ash Barty’, Fairfax Media

Best depiction of inclusive sport

• ‘The Outer Sanctum’ Podcast, ABC Radio
• Lauren Day, ‘Inner Demons – sacrificing it all for the AFLW’, ABC 7.30
• Jennifer Browning, ‘Bush Footy’, ABC News
• Matt Weiss, Tim Sheridan, Paul O’Doherty, ‘Game of Life’, Fox Sports

Best coverage of sport for people with disability

• Adam Burnett, ‘Cricket, chaos and a beautiful mind’,cricket.com.au
• Denise Reardon, ‘Soldier On’, The Golf Show, Fox Sports
• Lauren Day, ‘Dylan Alcott out to make disability sexy’, ABC 7.30
• Matthew Carmichael, Seven Network

Best regional, rural and suburban sport coverage

• Mackenzie Colahan, ‘Decline of Rugby League in Outback Queensland’, Central and North Burnett Times
• James Gardiner, ‘Offside: How a football fantasy turned to nightmare’, Newcastle Herald
• Callum Dick, ‘Ipswich Jets’, The Queensland Times
• ABC Heywire (Darliah Killer, Kudamba Abaas, Jarrod Darlow, Emma Murray), ‘What regional sport means to young people’, ABC Radio, TV and Online

Best contribution to sport via digital media

• Surfing Australia, ‘mySURF.tv’
• Patrick Galloway, ABC News, ‘Dani Stevens – The Science behind the perfect discus throw’
• thewomensgame.com, ‘The Women’s Game’
• PlayersVoice, ‘PlayersVoice is Changing The Game’
• Fox Sports, ‘The Magic of the Cup: The FFA Cup’

Best sport profile – broadcast

• Ben Waterworth, Denise Reardon, Dave Haworth, ‘Lauren Jackson – In her Element’, Fox Sports
• Bob Murphy, ‘Nat Fyfe’, Fox Footy 1029
• Andy Maher, ‘Jarrod Lyle’, SEN Afternoons
• Nick Piper, ‘The Season 1 – Nudgee College’, Onion TV

Best analysis of sport business

• Jeff Centenera, ‘Cohesion analytics and the next wave in sports stats’, Inside Sport
• John Stensholt, Max Mason, ‘Cricket broadcast rights’, The Australian Financial Review
• Ashley Browne, ‘AFL Movers and Shapers’, AFL Record andAFL.com.au
• Jack Kerr, ‘Investigations and Analysis’, Freelance