The Quills

The Melbourne Press Club awards (the Quills) are a little like the Logies, but not quite as many egos and no ‘Home and Away’ starlets running around.

The Quills recognise the very best in journalism in Victoria across all disciplines: digital, sport, features, headlines, TV and radio.

There are two specific categories for radio: Best Radio News Report and Best Radio Current Affairs.  Each year, the quality of entries has been top class and hotly contested. Unlike the ACRAs, there are no time constraints on entries.

At an awards ceremony at the Crown Palladium last Friday night, 774’s Jon Faine and his team; Tess Armstrong and Dan Ziffer beat out talk rival Neil Mitchel in Best Radio Current Affairs for a piece entitled “Rego Gate”.  Failings within VicRoads left many Victorians unknowingly driving unregistered vehicles.

Mitchell was highly commended for a piece entitled “Bill Shorten and the ‘L’ word”.  Both broadcasters exemplifying excellence in journalism.

It was a 3AW ‘lock-out’ in the Best Radio News Report with Lauren Hilbert taking the award for her coverage of a pay dispute within Melbourne’s public transport sector.

Lauren delivered a story of her own making, followed a paper trail and provided a new and original angle on a story of deep interest to Melbournians.

3AW colleague Yvette Gray was highly commended for her coverage of the Masa Vukotic murder in Doncaster.

The Melbourne Press Club awards are open to any journalist whose work is published within Victoria.

Whether on FM or on the AM band, in Melbourne or at a regional station, radio journalists and those working on the digital side of the fence should consider submitting an entry for next year’s awards.  We’d love to see you!