Guardian Australia’s Ben Smee joint winner of Queensland journalist of the year award | Australian media
Guardian Australia’s Ben Smee and a team from SBS have been named joint winners of the journalist of the year award at Queensland’s annual media awards, the Clarions.
Guardian Australia’s Queensland correspondent Smee and SBS journalists Jennifer Luu, Jodie Noyce and Chloe Angelo won the top award for their exclusive investigations. Inside the Box: Inside the Isolation Cells Where Australian Children Are Held. Smee also received two more awards at the ceremony on Saturday night.
In the Box investigated the plight of children, sometimes as young as 11, who were locked up in the Queensland police watchdog’s facilities for drunken and unruly adults.
The documentary featured exclusive footage of the children’s experiences in tiny isolation cells with no mattresses, toilets or windows, in freezing temperatures.
This study was based on Smee’s longitudinal work investigating the experiences of children and young people in police custody in Queensland.
The Clarion jury said In the Box “reflects the core values of investigative journalism.”
“This groundbreaking investigation into children incarcerated in Queensland observatories combined compelling vision and high production values with well-researched and effective storytelling. It demonstrated the value of communicating over an extended period to provide exclusive material and interviews,” the judges said.
In the Box also won the social issues reporting category; The judges noted Smee’s insistence on “examining in depth the nuances of youth crime in Queensland and the failures of the system over the last few years”.
Smee’s work on the Queensland election won the commentary, analysis, opinion and critique category; the judges praised her “clear and elegant style” that “walks the tightrope between great fact-based journalism and excellent opinion writing.”
Guardian Australia correspondent Ella Archibald-Binge won the award for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues reporting for her previous work at the ABC. Queensland’s truth-telling inquiry and stolen wages.
This year’s Clarion awards, run by the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, received more than 330 entries in 28 categories. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the awards, which are defined as “fearless reporting, innovation and a deep commitment to public interest journalism.”
