Explainers in, headlines out in Walkleys reshuffle

Explainers are in and headlines are out at the country’s most prestigious journalism awards, in a move by the Walkley Foundation that, in a rarity for the fractious industry, has not been met with outrage.

The foundation’s changes, announced on Thursday, sidestepped calls for a dedicated environment reporting award – and others from journalists who wanted their specific area of focus recognised with a prize. The Walkleys instead opted for a “specialist and beat reporting” category to go alongside the new explanatory journalism category and returning international reporting award, but axed a prize for best headline, hook or caption.

The last batch of changes, in 2017, dropped the international reporting award and caused an outcry replete with a petition from almost 480 industry signatories to reverse the decision. This time the Walkleys consulted more widely.

Former ABC reporter Michael Brissenden, who chairs the Walkley judging panel, said many news outlets had advocated for awards in subject areas they thought were important. “We accept that, but we couldn’t open the awards up for every single subject area that somebody suggests should be recognised,” Brissenden said.

By contrast, Brissenden said, most organisations supported an explanatory journalism award to recognise a growing mode of reporting. An annual survey of news industry leaders from Oxford University’s Reuters Institute put explanatory journalism at the top of ideas to counter “news fatigue” – the phenomenon of readers and viewers avoiding the news after years of being glued to downcast COVID-19 and Trump headlines.

‘We couldn’t open the awards up for every single subject area that somebody suggests should be recognised.’

Michael Brissenden, chair of Walkley judging panel

The Pulitzer Prize, the premier journalism awards in the United States, has had an explanatory reporting category since 1998. Winning entries, such as stories on former President Donald Trump’s taxes or police abuses, tend to be large scale investigative or data projects rather than following a question and answer style explainer format.

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Felicity Lewis, the explainer editor for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, said she was rapt to see the new category introduced. “It’s said attention spans are getting shorter, but we’ve shown that readers value spending time on compelling, in-depth explanations, everything from geopolitics and health to rogue waves and time travel,” Lewis said.