WA Media Awards: Seven West Media reporters and photographers nominated for excellence in journalism

From agenda-setting investigations to heart-tugging photographs, Seven West Media has been recognised with a raft of nominations in this year’s WA Media Awards.

Seven West Media reporters and photographers featured strongly in the shortlist of finalists, with The West’s business reporter Matt McKenzie leading the way with three nominations.

McKenzie is a finalist for the prestigious Arthur Lovekin prize for excellence in journalism for his stories about dozens of customers of Inspired Property Group being left waiting for unfinished homes, triggering a State Government review of building laws.

His entries on WA’s economic diversification battle, causes of inflation and the cost of Metronet were also nominated in the multimedia feature and multimedia news categories.

Federal political reporter Caitlyn Rintoul picked up mentions in three categories — health, social equity and news — for her examination of failures in WA’s sexual assault services and the human cost of failing violence support systems.

Chief reporter Ben Harvey and The West’s head of digital production Natalie Bonjolo were also nominated twice, for multimedia news and audio news, for their riveting podcast Catching Lisa’s Killer: The Inquest.

The true crime series delving into the dark underbelly of the WA outback captured the attention of listeners across the country.

The West’s State political editor Jessica Page was a finalist for best political report for her work uncovering catastrophic pre-election polling for the Liberal party, leading to a leadership spill.

The Nightly magazines editor Jay Hanna was nominated for the best columnist prize.

Investigative reporter John Flint was also nominated in the health category for revealing how greedy doctors and dentists were pushing patients to raid their superannuation accounts to pay for expensive treatments.

Not only was veteran photographer Ross Swanborough a finalist for best news photograph, he was also recognised in feature photography for his portrait of World War II hero Bill Grayden.

PerthNow journalists Justin Bianchini, Harriet Flinn and Michael Palmer took all three spots for the suburban news story category, with Bianchini also nominated for best legal affairs report and Palmer in the best headline category which was dominated by Seven West Media.

Winners will be announced at a gala dinner on November 8.

SEVEN WEST MEDIA FINALISTS

PRINT NEWS

Caitlyn Rintoul (The West)

COLUMNIST

Jay Hanna (The West)

AUDIO NEWS STORY

Natalie Bonjolo and Ben Harvey (The West)

MULTIMEDIA FEATURE

Matt McKenzie (The West)

MULTIMEDIA NEWS

Natalie Bonjolo and Ben Harvey (The West)

Matt McKenzie (The West)

HEALTH/MEDICAL REPORT

John Flint (The Sunday Times)

Caitlyn Rintoul (The West)

POLITICAL REPORT

Jessica Page (The West)

LEGAL AFFAIRS

Justin Bianchini (The West and PerthNow)

SOCIAL EQUITY

Caitlyn Rintoul (The West)

LOVEKIN PRIZE FOR EXCELLENCE IN JOURNALISM

Matt McKenzie (The West)

BEST HEADLINES

Paul Barry (The West)

Niall McIlroy (The West and The Sunday Times)

Michael Palmer (PerthNow)

SUBURBAN REPORTS

Justin Bianchini (PerthNow)

Harriet Flinn (PerthNow)

Michael Palmer (PerthNow)

FEATURE WRITING

Tim Clarke (The West)

COMMUNITY/REGIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Andrew Ritchie (PerthNow/The West)

Stuart Quinn (The Geraldton Guardian/The West)

FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY

Ross Swanborough (The West)

NEWS PHOTOGRAPH

Ross Swanborough (The West)

Daniel Wilkins (The West)

TV NEWS REPORTING

Nick Overall (7NEWS)

Geof Parry (7NEWS)

CAMERAWORK

Simon Hydzik (7NEWS)

Christian Rudd (7NEWS)

VIDEO FEATURE

Nick Overall and Simon Hydzik (7NEWS)

NEW JOURNALIST OR CADET

Rebeka Petroska (7NEWS)