One of Australia's best investigative journalists has taken out the top gong at ACM's annual news awards, while the Illawarra Mercury and The Maitland Mercury have been named best regional mastheads for 2023.
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At a ceremony held on Sydney Harbour to celebrate the highest quality regional and rural journalism published across nearly 100 mastheads, The Land was named agricultural masthead of the year.
Donna Page, a long-standing reporter at the Newcastle Herald, was honoured with the Gold ACM Excellence Award for her tenacious reporting, including an exhaustive investigation into the 10-year letter-writing campaign linked to the local council chief executive and ClubsNSW.
Just three years into her journalism career, Rachel Simmonds picked up the prestigious Young Journalist of the Year prize.
The Stock & Land reporter from Victoria covered everything from snail infestations in the Wimmera to wind farm debates and wool industry pioneers in 2023.
Stories otherwise untold
ACM editorial director Rod Quinn said the winners and their journalism had a profound impact on regional and rural communities and proved the value of local and agricultural news to Australians largely ignored by big city media.
"I am incredibly proud of the 2023 ACM Excellence Awards winners. They cover stories that would otherwise go untold and pose questions otherwise unasked," he said.
"And they do this with diligence, passion and a deep commitment to their towns, cities and communities."
Full list of 2023 ACM Excellence Awards winners
Gold ACME - Donna Page, Newcastle Herald
Young Journalist of the Year - Rachel Simmonds, Stock & Land
Trainee of the Year - Anna Houlahan, national content team
Masthead of the Year (Daily) - Illawarra Mercury
Masthead of the Year (Non-daily) - The Maitland Mercury
Masthead of the Year (Agricultural) - The Land
Editorial Director's Award for Digital Leadership - Central Western Daily
Building a Subscriber Community - The Advocate
Daily News Story of the Year - Donna Page, Newcastle Herald
Non-daily News Story of the Year - James Parker, Bega District News
Agricultural Story of the Year - Shan Goodwin
Property Story of the Year - Brendan Crabb, Illawarra Mercury
Court Story of the Year - Sam Rigney, Newcastle Herald (Highly commended - Allison Hore, Daily Liberal)
Comment Story of Year - Grace Ryan, Central Western Daily
Analysis Story of the Year - Adrian Rollins, Federal Parliamentary Bureau
Feature Story of the Year - Sam Rigney, Newcastle Herald (highly commended - Samantha Townsend, The Land)
Sport Story of the Year (Daily) - Melanie Dinjaski, The Canberra Times (highly commended - Emily Clooney, The Advocate)
Sport Story of the Year (Non-daily) - Finn Coleman, The Hawkesbury Gazette
News Photo of the Year (Daily) - Joint winners: Sylvia Liber, Illawarra Mercury; Gary Ramage, The Canberra Times.
Photo of the Year (Non-daily) - Cathy Adams, Lismore City News, (highly commended - Scott Calvin, Manning River Times)
Sport Photo of the Year (Daily) - Adam McLean, Illawarra Mercury, (highly commended - Adam Trafford, The Courier)
Agricultural Photo of the Year - Rachel Simmonds, Stock & Land
National Video of the Year - Justine Landis-Hanley, Federal Parliamentary Bureau
Local Video of the Year - Carla Freedman, Jude Keogh and Maddy Fogarty, Central Western Daily
Best Use of Multimedia - Ayden Dawkins, national content team
Mentor of the Year - Kelly Butterworth, Agricultural Digital Editor
Production of the Year - Ben Doherty, print producer
Sell of the Year - Rachel Simmonds, Stock & Land
Newsroom Collaboration - Newcastle Herald, The Singleton Argus, The Maitland Mercury
Newsroom Innovation - The Catch-Up, Central Western Daily
Campaign of the Year - Kate McIlwain, Illawarra Mercury, (highly commended - Sally Gall, Queensland Country Life)
Commercial Feature of the Year - Simon Walker
Magazine of the Year - Explore Special Cruise Issue
Paid Content Campaign of the Year - Elizabeth Habermann
