Australian Community Media ( ACM) has realised success at Friday's Walkley Awards.
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The awards recognise excellence in the media industry.
Northern Daily Leader (NDL) journalist Andrew Messenger, won a Walkley in Coverage of Rural and Regional Affairs, for his work on a campaign for youth beds at the new Banksia mental health unit, at Tamworth hospital.
While The Canberra Times cartoonist David Pope won the Walkley cartoon category, for his piece called "Rollout de Vax".
The awards were held in Sydney on Friday night.
NDL editor Fiona Ferguson said the awards were testament to the importance of regional media and "the impact we can have for our local community".
Read Andrew's stories:
"We are proud of our track record in the community," Ms Ferguson said.
"We are not afraid to tackle the issues that matter, because we know we can help to make a difference.
"The issue of mental health - especially youth mental health - is a difficult one, but we felt it was a subject that we needed to confront head on.
"The campaign, which was run in the NDL over a number of months, has resulted in a commitment for youth beds to be included in the design of the new Banksia unit at the hospital, and for that, the entire community can take a bow.
"Andrew did an outstanding job with what can be an extremely sensitive subject.
"The people he interviewed trusted him to present their story with care and compassion.
"He pushed the envelope and was rightly rewarded for all his hard work."
Mr Messenger and Mr Pope are in good company. See who else won Walkley Awards below.
- GOLD WALKLEY: Samantha Maiden, news.com.au, "Open secret: The Brittany Higgins story"
- OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO JOURNALISM: George Negus
- NIKON-WALKLEY PRESS PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR: Alex Coppel, Herald Sun, The Daily Telegraph, The Courier Mail
- WALKLEY BOOK AWARD: Kate Holden The Winter Road, Black Inc
- WALKLEY DOCUMENTARY AWARD: Fire starter- The Story of Bangarra, Ivan O'Mahoney, Wayne Blair and Nel Minchin, In Films, ABC
- COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS, OPINION AND CRITIQUE: Katharine Murphy, Guardian Australia, "Brittany Higgins' shocking story must be a turning point. Women in politics have had enough", "Canberra's pale, stale and male tribe is missing the moment - as it did with Julia's Gillard's misogyny speech" and " Scott Morrison's efforts to engage with women are more 'me' than mea culpa"
- INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM: Nick McKenzie and Joel Tozer 60 Minutes and The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, Nine: "Nazi's Next Door", "Inside Racism HQ: How home-grown neo-Nazis are plotting a white revolution" and "From kickboxing to Adolf HItler: the neo-Nazi plan to recruit angry young men"
- TELEVISION/VIDEO CURRENT AFFAIRS LONG (More than 20 minutes): Nick McKenzie and Joel Tozer, 60 Minutes, Nine, "Nazis Next Door"
- TELEVISION/VIDEO CURRENT AFFAIRS SHORT (Less than 20 minutes) Christine Ahern, A Current Affair, Nine, "Epping Disgrace"
- TELEVISION/VIDEO NEWS REPORTING: Peter Fegan and Rebeka Powell, Nine News 6pm, Nine, "The Investigation of Andrew Laming"
- TELEVISION/VIDEO: CAMERAWORK: Andy Taylor, ABC TV, "Exposed-The Ghost Train Fire"
- FEATURE/PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY: Dean Sewell, The Sun-Herald, "Of Mice and Men"
- BUSINESS JOURNALISM: Caitlyn Rintoul, The West Australian, "Police investigating alleged sexual assault at BHP's South Flank mine near Newman", "WA mining giants unite for apology to female mine workers and back calls for sex assault inquiry" and "Mine site sexual harassment inquiry: Submission shows BHP sacked dozens of WA workers"
- NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY: Brook Mitchell, The Sydney Morning Herald, "Sydney Anti-Lockdown protest"
- COVERAGE OF A MAJOR NEWS EVENT OF ISSUE: Samantha Maiden and the news.com.au team, news.com.au, "Open Secret: The Brittany Higgins story"
- SCOOP OF THE YEAR: Ellen Whinnett, The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, The Advertiser and The Courier-Mail, "The AN0M Files"
- PRODUCTION: Rhiona-Jade Armont and the 101 East team, Al Jazeera English, "This is Myanmar's State of Fear"
- RADIO/AUDIO NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS: Sally Sara and Victoria Pengilley, RN Breakfast and The World Today, ABC "Afghanistan Interviews"
- SPORT PHOTOGRAPHY: Alex Coppel, Herald Sun, The Daily Telegraph, The Courier-Mail and The Advertiser, "The Games that Had to Happen"
- SPORTS JOURNALISM: Michael Warner, Herald Sun, "'Do Better': The Secret Collingwood Racism Report"
- CARTOON: David Pope, The Canberra Times, "Rollout de Vax"
- COVERAGE OF COMMUNITY OR REGIONAL AFFAIRS: Andrew Messenger, The Northern Daily Leader, "You feel so powerless': little room for kids in rural mental health", "Banksia Mental Health Unit: children's services ruled not 'economies of scale' in plan for new mental health unit" and "Tamworth Banksia Mental Health modelling says New England North West won't need more general-purpose beds until 2031."
- COVERAGE OF INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS: Karla Grant, Julie Nimmo, Michael Carey, Mark Bannerman and The Living Black Team, Living Black, NITV: "Taken", "Missing Pieces" and "Heritage Victory"
- FEATURE WRITING SHORT (Under 4000 words) Tom Patterson, The Australian, "Searching for a lost soul"
- FEATURE WRITING LONG: (Over 4000 words) Andrew Quilty, The Monthly, "The Worst Forms of Defence: New revelations of Australian War Crimes in Afghanistan"
- HEADLINE, CAPTION OR HOOK: Duska Sulicich, The Age "Michael rolled, the vote assured, Hallelujah!', "It's all a bit cray-cray" and "The Art of the Steal"
- INNOVATION: Kylie Boltin, Ella Rubeli, Ravi Vasavan and Emma Anderson, SBS, "Ravi and Emma"
- PUBLIC SERVICE JOURNALISM: Naaman Zhou, Guardian Australia, "Australia's delivery deaths: The riders who never made it and the families left behind", "They don't have brakes, the tyres are gone': food delivery companies accused of bike safety failures" and "Uber Eats riders earning as little as $5 for deliveries crossing multiple NSW suburbs"
- PRINT/TEXT NEWS REPORT: Kate McClymont, The Sydney Morning Herald, "The Lady Vanishes: Melissa Caddick and the missing millions"
