Outstanding journalism

Regional Australia’s best journalism has been celebrated at the 2024 ACM Excellence Awards, with the Newcastle Herald named regional masthead of the year, South Australia’s Stock Journal winning best agricultural title in its 120th year and the Goulburn Post winning best community masthead.

Presented in Sydney, the annual awards recognise the most outstanding news and sport coverage, commentary and commercial content produced by the ACM network, Australia’s largest publisher of regional news.

Senior journalist Andrew Thomson of The Standard in Warrnambool, Victoria, was presented with the top individual honour, the Gold ACME for Journalist of the Year, for his long-running coverage of Geoff Clark, former chairman of the disbanded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, who was sentenced on November 24 to a six-year prison term for an almost $1million fraud described by the sentencing judge as “morally reprehensible”.

Court reporter Grace Crivellaro of the Illawarra Mercury was named Young Journalist of the Year and Nick Guthrie was named Sports Journalist of the Year for his work across the NSW central-west for Dubbo’s The Daily Liberal, Bathurst’s Western Advocate and Orange’s Central Western Daily.