Australian Press Council Prize 1998-99

Secondary School Students' section winner
Tertiary Students' section winner
Honourable mentions
Judges' comments

The Australian Press Council has announced results of its 1998-99 essay Prize. The Prize is awarded for the best essay submitted on a set topic.

In 1998-99 the topic was:

Principle 4 states, "News obtained by dishonest or unfair means, or the publication of which would involve a breach of confidence, should not be published unless there is an over-riding public interest." Discuss this principle, especially in the light of the number of stories obtained through leaks and whistleblowers who may have breached the law or a confidence in passing the information along.

Entries were invited in two categories:

1. Tertiary students (as at 30 June 1999), who had a 2,500 word limit; and
2. Secondary students (as at 30 June 1999), with a 1,500 word limit.

There were 8 entries in the secondary school section and 42 entries in the tertiary school section

Winners in each category were selected by a panel of judges, Professor Warwick Blood, Head of the School of Professional Communication at the University of Canberra; Sandra Symons, freelance journalist and journalism educator ; and Judy Taylor, a Public Member of the Australian Press Council.

In the secondary section, the first prize of $1,500 was awarded to

Hugh Townsend

Hugh was born on 14 March 1984 in Maryborough, Victoria and grew up on a small hobby farm a few kilometers out of the town. He attends the Maryborough Regional College and has recently completed Year 10.

Hugh's interests include reading and computers, which he repairs, upgrades and programs. He also enjoys cycling, swimming, music and playing computer games. He has undertaken a part-time accounting course this year as well as participating in the Siemens Science Experience and the International Student Project, which involves researching, in a team, a hypothetical subject. He attended the International Conference on the Education of Gifted Students.

He would like to go to university where he wants to major in computers, with a view to employment in the computer industry. He works part-time as a waiter in a Chinese restaurant.

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Joe Boughton-Dent

Joe is 19 years old and is currently studying towards a Bachelor of Arts in Communications (Journalism) at the University of Technology, Sydney.

He has previously lived in Canberra and Alice Springs before moving to Sydney last year.

Joe enjoys sport, travelling, barbeques and sunshine.

In the future he would like to work as a journalist in the print media.

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The judges also awarded Honourable Mentions to three other entrants:

Stacy Fry, in the secondary section.

Stacy Fry lives in Aberfoyle Park in Adelaide, South Australia, where she attends High School.

Kathy Beckwith-Mcleish and Loretta Duffy in the tertiary section.

Kathy Beckwith-Mcleish is studying, in parallel, a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Bachelor of Journalism at the University of Queensland, Brisbane. She is in her final year of the former and in her second year of the latter degree. Her primary interest is writing and she plans to work as a journalist on the completion of her studies.

Loretta Duffy is completing a Master of Arts (Communication) at Monash University. She has a BA from Deakin University and a Graduate Diploma in Journalism from RMIT. She works for Macquarie University, co-ordinating its Master of Applied Finance program in Melbourne. Her interests in the communications field include policy, media law and emerging technologies.

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Judges' comments on the 1998-99 APC Prize

[See also the comments made by the 1994 judges and
the comments made by the 1998 judges]

The judges made several comments on the entrants for the Prize.

They reiterated remarks made by previous judges that the best entries demonstrated solid research of the topic and included a detailed bibliography of the works consulted.

The judges were very impressed by the standard of the Tertiary entrants but were less impressed by those entered in the Secondary students category. Without meaning to detract from the quality of the winner whose entry stood out, they found these latter entries difficult to assess because of the lack of Australian examples and the range of styles.

It was the view of at least two of the judges that the small number and lesser quality of the Secondary student entrants could not justify the continuance of this category of the Prize and they thought that the Council should concentrate on the Tertiary students' section. They were of the view that, perhaps, the question being asked was generally too sophisticated for Secondary students.

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See also:
1999-2000 APC Prize topic and conditions of entry