Guardian Australia's Matilda Boseley has secured one of the top honors at the 2026 Walkley mid-year media prizes, winning the award for innovative storytelling. Boseley was recognized for her high-profile, multiplatform political explainer series, Parliamen-Tea: explaining the chaos of Australian politics, which successfully engaged a younger audience in national policy debates.
Innovative Storytelling Recognition
The category celebrates journalism that breaks traditional structural molds to inform audiences through dynamic digital platforms and creative production formats. Boseley's work features fast-paced commentary, clear graphic breakdowns, and accessible short-form video storytelling, simplifying complex federal legislation, budget measures, and shifting party dynamics into compelling visual journalism.
Other Major Winners
The Sydney Morning Herald's Riley Walter took home the top accolade of the night, named the John B Fairfax family young Australian journalist of the year. A rising force in crime investigation, Walter also won the short-form journalism and specialist and beat reporting categories for his investigations, including a story on a staff ring allegedly defrauding the NAB of $150 million.
The ABC Four Corners team of Louise Milligan, Mary Fallon, Mayeta Clark, and Lara Sonnenschein won the women's leadership in media prize for their investigation titled Scarred, which exposed systemic institutional failures through deeply personal accounts of women's experiences with trauma and inequality.
ABC's Multiple Wins
The ABC also won the Our Watch award for excellence in reporting on violence against women. Claudia Long, Chantelle Al-Khouri, and Hannah Meagher were recognized for their 7.30 reports on sexual predators within the driving instructors industry. In the science and environment reporting category, the ABC's Tom Hartley was recognized for his multiplatform investigation on vitamin B6.
Independent journalist Nina Funnell won the freelance journalist of the year prize for her news.com.au campaign, Keep Counselling Confidential, which campaigned to protect the legal privacy of assault survivors. This built on her previous advocacy journalism, including her Walkley-winning #LetHerSpeak campaign.
The ABC also won the Media Diversity Australia prize with Gillian Aeria and Lachlan Bennett's body of work on racism in the trucking industry and cultural stigmas surrounding aged care in multicultural families.
Arts and Young Journalist Categories
In arts journalism, The Australian's arts editor, Tim Douglas, was recognized for his comprehensive body of work. Under the Young Australian Journalist categories, SBS reporter Niv Sadrolodabaee won the long-form feature writing category for uncovering the Iranian regime's hostile activities and tracking operations targeting dissidents in Australia. The short-form feature writing award went to Peter McKenzie from Reuters Australia for his feature on the US-China power tussle over Palau.
The Sydney Morning Herald's Anthony Segaert won the public service journalism award for his investigation into Parramatta council, while the community affairs reporting prize went to Joseph Hathaway-Wilson from ABC News NT for his expose on the territory's maximum-security prisons. RMIT student Charlotte Wilkes won student journalist of the year for a trio of stories on ABC online and Stateline.
Reflections from the Walkley Foundation
Walkley Foundation chief executive Shona Martyn commended the winners for their tenacity and commitment to public interest reporting. "In a time of great change in the media, we are ever more reliant on journalists, broadcasters, and photojournalists with a nose for news and an ability to interpret and analyze key issues facing Australians today," she said. "At an event where we shine a particular spotlight on the next generation of journalists, there is much to be encouraged about."
