2025 Kennedy Awards Winners and Grinners – The 2025 Kennedy Awards have officially come to a close, and what a celebration it was. Friday night’s Presentation Dinner was a resounding success, with winners, grinners, and plenty of unforgettable moments.
Our fantastic hosts, Seven Network’s Edwina Bartholomew and David Woiwod, kept the room engaged from start to finish, while Royal Randwick once again proved why it leads the way in award-winning hospitality—serving up fabulous food and flawless service.
The Kennedy Foundation is proud to host such an important event, shining a light on the very best of Australian journalism. The 2025 Awards truly celebrated all that is great about our industry.
We invite you to take a moment to explore the photo gallery, beautifully captured by our friends at Salty Dingo, and to celebrate with us the winners of the 2025 Kennedy Awards and Kennedy Scholarships.
Finally, a heartfelt thank you to our incredible partners, supporters—and most of all, to you. Together, you make the Kennedys possible.
What a night it was as the crème de la crème of Australian journalism gathered in the ballroom of the Royal Randwick Racecourse to honour and celebrate the very best of Australian journalism at the Annual Kennedy Awards.
Every media outlet from across the country was in the room as the winners were announced across 37 different journalistic categories.
This year’s entries were another record and revealed a terrific breadth of quality and content variety.
“Despite all the challenges, it’s been another bumper year for excellent Australian journalism, and it’s a great honour for the Kennedy Foundation to support those endeavours that are essential to a vital and intelligent society.” Said Foundation Chairperson, Carl Dumbrell,
There were plenty of surprises as new talent stepped up for the prizes but the award for Journalist of the Year, in a hot field, was perhaps no surprise, Nick McKenzie. This was the third time that the work of Nick and his team had won this coveted award.
This year, we awarded Lifetime Achievement to two of our best: the great Michelle Grattan and inaugural Kennedy Chairperson and loyal friend Peter Ryan.
Scoop of the Year went to News Corp’s Peter Badel and Jacquelin Magnay for – ‘Paris Olympics: Boxing’s Gender War’
Another category at the heart of the values of these awards and the Foundation is Team Player/Mentor of the Year. Here again, we had such deserving entries that there were two winners: Kathryn Wicks, Associate Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, and Kirsty Thompson, Executive Producer of 60 Minutes.
The work that the Kennedy Foundation is most proud of is it support of young aspiring journalists.
So, our congratulations to Blair Wise, the University of Newcastle’s Student Journalist of the Year, and Angus Thomson, the Sydney Morning Herald’s Young Journalist of the Year.
The Kennedy Foundation and its Foundation partner, NRMA, are proud supporters of two scholarship opportunities. Each offers a 12-week paid intensive internship with media houses Seven Network and NINE News. This year’s winners were Sarah Jensz from the University of Melbourne, who won the 7NEWS scholarship, and Sabrine Nasri from UNSW, who will work at 9News.
It was a huge night where only the very best would do. Our congratulations to all the winners and the finalists.
ALL MEDIA
Journalist of the Year
Nick McKenzie, The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, AFR and 60 Minutes
Lifetime Achievement Award
Michelle Grattan
Peter Ryan OAM
Indigenous Affairs Reporting
Karla Grant, Gary Cox, Bianca Schneller, Greg Wilesmith and Gerard Phelan – Just Kids – Living Black, NITV and SBS
Outstanding Cartoon
David Rowe – Coronation of Elon – Australian Financial Review
Outstanding Consumer Affairs
Adele Ferguson, Chris Gillett and Ben Butler – Betrayal of Trust – Four Corners, ABC
Outstanding Court and Legal Affairs Reporting
Nina Funnell, Alice Fahrer, Kerry Warren and Liz Burke – Take the Stand: Justice Shouldn’t Hurt news.com.au
Outstanding Crime Reporting
Mark Morri, Josh Hanrahan and Clementine Cuneo – The Dural caravan plot – The Daily Telegraph
Outstanding Finance Reporting
Neil Chenoweth and Mark Di Stefano – The downfall of MinRes and Chris Ellison – Australian Financial Review
Outstanding Foreign Correspondent
Prue Lewarne – Coverage from the Americas – Dateline, SBS
Outstanding Investigative Reporting
9Network Team – Building Bad – The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes, 9Network
Outstanding Online News Breaking
Yoni Bashan and Liam Mendes and The Australian Team – Under the attack of Iran – The Australian
Outstanding Political Reporting
Linda Silmalis, James O’Doherty and Madeleine Bower – Rorts & Rides – The Downfall of a Minister – The Sunday Telegraph
Outstanding Reporting on Human Rights, Social or Religious Affairs
Avani Dias, Amy Donaldson and Maddy King – Emergency – Four Corners, ABC
Outstanding Reporting on the Environment
Michael Bachelard and Charlotte Grieve -Dollars in the dust: Is outback scrub really saving the planet? – The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald
Outstanding Sport Reporting
Jessica Halloran and Stephen Rice – Predator in the Vault – The Australian
Outstanding Three Headlines
Jakeb Waddell – ‘The Lying King’ – ‘Falcon Hell!’ – ‘Demon Awwww’ – The West Australian
Scoop of the Year
Peter Badel and Jacquelin Magnay – Paris Olympics: Boxing’s Gender War – News Corp Australia
Regional Broadcast Reporting
Joanna Woodburn – Whistleblowers expose cancer surgery scandal – 7.30 and ABC News Online
Student Journalist of the Year
Blair Wise – Body of work – University of Newcastle
Young Journalist of The Year
Angus Thomson -Body of work – The Sydney Morning Herald
Outstanding Team Player or Mentor
Kathryn Wicks – The Sydney Morning Herald
Kirsty Thomson – 60 Minutes,9Network
PRINT/TEXT
Outstanding Columnist
Ranjana Srivastava – On Compassion & Empathy in Medicine – The Guardian
Outstanding Feature Writing
Charmayne Allison and Xavier Martin – The Pintupi Nine – ABC News
Outstanding Travel Writing
John Borthwick – Remote Possibilities – Freelance – The Weekend Australian (Travel+Luxury)
Racing Writer of the Year
Adam Pengilly – Knight and away: How a Melbourne Cup fairytale went wrong – Idol Horse
Outstanding Digital Innovation
Guardian Australia Team – Leaving Gaza – The Guardian
Regional Reporting Print and Online
Kallee Buchanan – ‘When dams fail, people die’: Finding the flaw in Paradise that puts thousands at risk – ABC News
TELEVISION/VIDEO
Outstanding News Camera Coverage
Ryan Sheridan – Endurance – Four Corners, ABC
Outstanding Nightly Television Current Affairs Reporting
Steve Marshall, Danielle Post and Ben Lynch – Exposing Government Corruption – A Current Affair, 9Network
Outstanding Television Current Affairs Reporting – Long Form
Eryk Bagshaw, Natalie Clancy, Clare Sibthorpe and Bianca Hrovat – Out of Order – The Sydney Morning Herald, Good Food and 60 Minutes, 9Network
Outstanding Television News Reporting
Lauren Tomasi – Shooting the Messenger – 9News
Outstanding Documentary
WildBear Entertainment Team – Joh: Last King of Queensland – Stan
AUDIO JOURNALISM
Outstanding Podcast
Tara Cassidy, Romy Sher, Nat Marshall and Kyle Hopkins – Crime in Focus: Killer Charm – LiSTNR
Outstanding Radio News and Current Affairs
Lucy Barbour – The ‘unspoken ban’ on abortion- AM, ABC
PHOTOGRAPHY
Outstanding News Photography
Flavio Brancaleone – Death, Devotion, Habemus Papam – The Sydney Morning Herald
Outstanding Portrait Photography
Carly Earl – Riley on the Southern Roma Road – The Guardian
Outstanding Sports Photography
David Gray -Timing and Placement – Agence France Presse – (Australia)
The People’s Choice Award: The Power of the Lens
Flavio Brancaleone – Death, Devotion, Habemus Papam – The Sydney Morning Herald
2025 KENNEDY SCHOLARSHIPS
7News
Sarah Jensz – The University of Melbourne
9News
Sabrine Nasri – UNSW
Media Release – Kennedy Foundation
Link to Kennedy Foundation HERE
TV Central Other content HERE
2025 Kennedy Awards Winners and Grinners
