The Walkley Judging Board plays a pivotal role in the work of the Walkley Foundation. Made up of senior members of the Australian media industry, the board members are appointed by the Directors of the Foundation and function as custodians of the Walkley Awards. They are responsible for judging the overall winners of the Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism after the first stage of judging. They also act as ambassadors for the Foundation.
Ben Butler is a senior investigative journalist who has worked at newsrooms across the Australian industry, specialising in the intersection of business and crime.
Investigations he has worked on include exposing the Commonwealth Bank for ripping off term deposit customers, revealing the complex financial engineering used by the owner of the collapsed "sorry business insurer" Aboriginal Community Benefit Fund, as well as the involvement of rich Australians in offshore tax schemes laid out in the Pandora Papers.
He has won two Walkley Awards, three Melbourne Press Club Quills, two Kennedy awards and a Citi award (markets division).
Investigations he has worked on include exposing the Commonwealth Bank for ripping off term deposit customers, revealing the complex financial engineering used by the owner of the collapsed "sorry business insurer" Aboriginal Community Benefit Fund, as well as the involvement of rich Australians in offshore tax schemes laid out in the Pandora Papers.
He has won two Walkley Awards, three Melbourne Press Club Quills, two Kennedy awards and a Citi award (markets division).
Christine Ahern is a Walkley award winning journalist for the Nine Network. She is the Melbourne correspondent for the Today Show, filing reports across numerous programs including 60 Minutes.
She attended the University of Queensland in Brisbane, where in her final year she won the award for the most outstanding journalism student in Queensland. She began her reporting career at the ABC in Hobart before moving to ABC Melbourne, shifting to Channel 9 in 2004. Christine was appointed the Network’s US correspondent in 2014. As well as winning a Walkley award in 2021, Christine was a Walkley finalist in 2022 and has won four Quill Awards.
She attended the University of Queensland in Brisbane, where in her final year she won the award for the most outstanding journalism student in Queensland. She began her reporting career at the ABC in Hobart before moving to ABC Melbourne, shifting to Channel 9 in 2004. Christine was appointed the Network’s US correspondent in 2014. As well as winning a Walkley award in 2021, Christine was a Walkley finalist in 2022 and has won four Quill Awards.
Gay Alcorn is a senior writer with Good Weekend magazine. She is a former editor of The Age and The Sunday Age and former Melbourne editor of Guardian Australia. She is a three-time Walkley award winner.
Mike Amor is one of Australia’s most experienced broadcast journalists.
He is currently a presenter for Channel Seven Melbourne’s new service, having returned to Australia after 18 years as the network’s United States Bureau Chief.
In a career spanning 40 years, Mike has covered some of the biggest news stories in the world, from being on the ground in New York during the September 11 terrorist attacks to rescuing Australian tourists trapped in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and five presidential elections.
His work has been honoured with almost 40 international journalism awards, including the prestigious Edward R Murrow award.
He is currently a presenter for Channel Seven Melbourne’s new service, having returned to Australia after 18 years as the network’s United States Bureau Chief.
In a career spanning 40 years, Mike has covered some of the biggest news stories in the world, from being on the ground in New York during the September 11 terrorist attacks to rescuing Australian tourists trapped in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and five presidential elections.
His work has been honoured with almost 40 international journalism awards, including the prestigious Edward R Murrow award.
Tom Dusevic is a columnist at The Australian, where he writes about the nation's political economy, social issues and new ideas to deal with our most pressing challenges. Tom has been The Australian’s policy editor, national chief reporter, chief leader writer, editorial page editor, opinion editor, economics writer and first social affairs correspondent. During almost four decades in journalism, he has held senior editing and reporting roles at TIME, Good Weekend and The Australian Financial Review. Tom won a Walkley Award for commentary and the Citi Journalism Award for Excellence. He is the author of the memoir Whole Wild World and holds degrees in Arts and Economics from the University of Sydney.
Richard Guilliatt is a journalist and author. He has worked as a staff writer at The Weekend Australian Magazine and Good Weekend magazine, and a freelance journalist in the United States. His feature stories have appeared in The Times, The Independent, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times. He is the author of Talk Of The Devil (Text 1996) and co-author – with Peter Hohnen – of The Wolf (Heinemann 2009). He has twice won the Walkley Award for outstanding journalism and his 2023 podcast, Shadow Of Doubt, won the Gold Award for serialised podcast at the New York Festivals Radio Awards.
John Paul Janke is from Wuthathi Country on Eastern Cape York Peninsula and from Mer (Murray) Island in Zenadth Kes (the Torres Strait).
He is the National Indigenous Affairs Editor at SBS and NITV and in his 9th season as the host of the channel’s flagship Indigenous news and current affairs show The Point.
He’s been an ABC Radio Presenter on ABC 666 Canberra and has regular appearances on Insiders (ABC).
He has previously worked as a journalist and media specialist in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs for nearly three decades with Executive positions at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), the NSW Aboriginal Land Council and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) in Canberra.
John Paul was a member and Co-Chair of the National NAIDOC Committee for almost a decade and has previously sat on the Diversity Council of Australia’s Expert Advisory Panel and been the Deputy Chair of the Australian Indigenous Leadership Centre, the Deputy Chair of the National Museum of Australia’s Indigenous Reference Group.
He is Chair of the National Basketball League (NBL) Reconciliation Working Group and a member for the National Museum of Australia’s Collection Advisory Committee.
All these roles enable him to be a passionate advocate for the need for a greater awareness and celebration of the rich histories and the diverse cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
He is the National Indigenous Affairs Editor at SBS and NITV and in his 9th season as the host of the channel’s flagship Indigenous news and current affairs show The Point.
He’s been an ABC Radio Presenter on ABC 666 Canberra and has regular appearances on Insiders (ABC).
He has previously worked as a journalist and media specialist in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs for nearly three decades with Executive positions at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), the NSW Aboriginal Land Council and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) in Canberra.
John Paul was a member and Co-Chair of the National NAIDOC Committee for almost a decade and has previously sat on the Diversity Council of Australia’s Expert Advisory Panel and been the Deputy Chair of the Australian Indigenous Leadership Centre, the Deputy Chair of the National Museum of Australia’s Indigenous Reference Group.
He is Chair of the National Basketball League (NBL) Reconciliation Working Group and a member for the National Museum of Australia’s Collection Advisory Committee.
All these roles enable him to be a passionate advocate for the need for a greater awareness and celebration of the rich histories and the diverse cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Julie Lewis is the features editor of The Sydney Morning Herald across print and digital platforms. She has held a variety of senior editorial roles, including five years as the Herald’s opinion editor. She began her career as a cadet at the Herald and has worked as a journalist in Melbourne, Moscow and Washington DC. She is the co-editor of Pardon Me for Mentioning a book of previously unpublished letters to the editor of the Herald.
Claire is News Editor of the ABC's South Australia newsroom, leading a news team with a proud record of breaking high impact investigative stories. Claire has been in News and Technology leadership positions for the past 10 years leading and developing the ABC’s multiplatform teams across the country. Claire began her ABC career as a News cadet journalist in the Sydney newsroom in 1998. She has worked as a journalist, producer and presenter reporting on a wide range of stories all the way from India to remote NT communities. Claire has worked for the ABC in NSW, QLD, the NT and SA. Claire grew up in country NSW and began her media career in regional television.
Nick Miller is live news editor (mornings) at Guardian Australia. Previous roles include seven years based in the UK as Europe correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, freelance news and features writer and production editor based in New York, arts editor, health editor and state news editor at The Age, IT news editor for Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, and various roles including columnist, Today editor and Melbourne correspondent for The West Australian. He currently lives in Sydney.
Greg Muller is Executive Producer of Audio Documentaries at LiSTNR, recently completing the Should I Spit podcast. He was EP of Take Me To Your Leader for the ABC, Dark Shining Moment about Russian disinformation techniques and The Age’s investigative podcast, Wrong Skin which won a Quill, two Australian Podcast Awards and a Gold NYF Radio award. Greg wrote and hosted Motherlode, an investigative podcast on the creation of Wikileaks (currently in production for TV) and Gertie's Law, a groundbreaking series from Victoria’s Supreme Court which won a Gold NYF Radio award. Prior to podcasting, he worked for The Project, ABC’s 7.30, and as a presenter/producer for Bush Telegraph and SBS radio. Greg has also worked as a sound engineer and river guide.
Kirsty Needham is Australia and Pacific Islands correspondent for global news agency Agence France-Presse. She worked at The Sydney Morning Herald in reporting and editing roles spanning federal and state politics, world news, consumer affairs and business for over 20 years.
She was China correspondent in Beijing for the Fairfax newspapers, and a finalist for the text news Walkley in 2019 for her reporting from Xinjiang.
She won the Walkley for Scoop of the Year in 2022 for her reporting on China’s push for Pacific security deals as a Reuters correspondent.
Her book on China, 'A Season in Red', was long-listed for a Walkley in 2007.
She was China correspondent in Beijing for the Fairfax newspapers, and a finalist for the text news Walkley in 2019 for her reporting from Xinjiang.
She won the Walkley for Scoop of the Year in 2022 for her reporting on China’s push for Pacific security deals as a Reuters correspondent.
Her book on China, 'A Season in Red', was long-listed for a Walkley in 2007.
After leaving a career as a graphic designer in 2003, Jake Nowakowski found himself freelancing both at home and abroad before eventually accepting staff positions at the North West Star in Mount Isa and The Cairns Post. He is currently employed as a staff photographer at the Herald Sun in Melbourne, and won the 2023 Nikon-Walkley Press Photographer of the Year award.
Melanie Petrinec is deputy editor of The Courier-Mail and Sunday Mail in Queensland. She began her career at The Rockhampton Morning Bulletin in 2005, before stints in Gladstone, Emerald, Cairns and the Gold Coast before joining The Courier-Mail as chief court reporter in 2015.
Hugh Riminton is a two-time Walkley winner with more than 40 years as an interviewer, foreign correspondent, political editor and presenter. He has reported from the frontlines of conflicts in some 50 countries, for the Nine Network, CNN and Ten. He has also hosted an interview-based program on ABC RN.
Hugh has been a director or adviser for numerous not-for-profits, covering veterans’ welfare to media diversity. He is a proud father of four great kids.
Hugh has been a director or adviser for numerous not-for-profits, covering veterans’ welfare to media diversity. He is a proud father of four great kids.
Paul Williams has earned a formidable reputation during his fifty plus years as an Australian broadcast journalist for the ABC, SBS and commercial television. Paul is Executive Producer of SBS’s WorldWatch service which broadcasts 62 international news programs a day in 42 languages, including 20 services in English, across three TV networks and SBS On Demand.
Appointed Head of News and Current Affairs for the ABC in 1995, Paul co-located ABC Radio and TV newsrooms, nationalised the 7.30 Report and created Australian Story. Paul began his professional career with ABC Radio as a rural journalist, moving to television as a documentary producer for A Big Country, Jack Absalom’s Outback and Heartlands with Dr. Dean Graetz.
He became Executive Producer of Lateline, Four Corners, the Gold Walkley Award-winning series on the Hawke Keating government, Labor in Power and SBS’s Insight program. Paul also helped establish Page One and Public Eye for the Ten Network.
Appointed Head of News and Current Affairs for the ABC in 1995, Paul co-located ABC Radio and TV newsrooms, nationalised the 7.30 Report and created Australian Story. Paul began his professional career with ABC Radio as a rural journalist, moving to television as a documentary producer for A Big Country, Jack Absalom’s Outback and Heartlands with Dr. Dean Graetz.
He became Executive Producer of Lateline, Four Corners, the Gold Walkley Award-winning series on the Hawke Keating government, Labor in Power and SBS’s Insight program. Paul also helped establish Page One and Public Eye for the Ten Network.