Australian Press Council Prize 2001
Results and judges' comments

Winner
Honourable mention
Judges' comments

The Australian Press Council has announced results of its 2001 essay Prize. The Prize is awarded for the best essay submitted on a set topic.

In 2001 the topic was:

Principle 5 states, in part, that publications should make fact and opinion clearly distinguishable. To what extent is such a clear division between fact and opinion possible and desirable?

Entries were invited from tertiary students (as at 30 June 2001), who had a 2,500 word limit

There were 54 entries in the essay prize.

Winners were selected by a panel of judges, Professor John Henningham of the University of Queensland; Harry Dillon (Charles Sturt Univertsity); and Wendy Mead, public member of the Council.

Laurel-Lee Roderick is nineteen years old and is a second year student at the University of Western Sydney (Penrith) where she is studying a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism).

Born on 13 June 1982 in Bowral, Laurel-Lee spent most of her childhood years in Moss Vale Camden, before moving to her present home at The Oaks. She completed her secondary education at St Patrick's College in Campbelltown, where she was awarded Dux of the College in 1999. In 2000, the University of Western Sydney awarded her a Nepean Foundation Scholarship.

A keen writer, Laurel-Lee has had two poems published by the Australian Social Justice Council in 1996 and 1997 and had subsequently has two poems published by the International Library of Poetry in 1997and 1998. She has also had news article published during periods of work experience at the Macarthur Advertiser in 1997 and the Macarthur Chronicle in 2001.

Laurel-Lee hopes to pursue a career in newspaper journalism after graduating from university and is keen to specialise in the reporting of business or finance, an area she has integrated into her studies at university with a sub-major in Economics and Finance.

Employed part time by Macarthur Health Service as an administration assistant, Laurel-Lee's other interests include reading, playing tennis, swimming and socialising with friends.

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Honourable Mention:The judges also awarded an Honourable Mention to one other entrant: Emily Porter, from the University of Melbourne

Emily Porter is in her final year of an Arts/Law degree at the University of Melbourne. She hopes to spend next year travelling and relaxing, before starting her Articles year at a city law firm. She is twenty-two years old and an avid reader of books and newspapers.

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Judges' comments on the 2001 APC Prize

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

Judge 1: Most submitted essays reflected a sound understanding of the basic issues relating to fact, opinion and the industry's task in delineating them. However, many writers were overly preoccupied with arguments as to whether objectivity in the true sense is attainable. Although a legitimate aspect of the topic, this theoretical discussion should be just one element within a well-rounded essay. After all, the question has practical implications for media, media practitioners and audiences: a workable day-to-day approach is required whatever the theoretical considerations may be. The essays also generally displayed awareness that assertions need to be underpinned by evidence. However, this often took the form of reliance on a somewhat predictable range of expert sources, such as journalism texts, as authorities to back up arguments. While this is a legitimate technique, the essay topic really called on writers to develop independent arguments built upon but transcending attributed sources of various types. There was not nearly enough evidence of original thought or diversity of sources.

Judge 2: My biggest disappointment was a lack of historical perspective, given that there has been such a significant change in news style in the past generation. Maybe our essayists are too young to have been aware of a different way of writing news!

Judge 3: Too many of the essays reflect a lack of stringency in the attitudes of the writers. Just because a thing is difficult to achieve, does this mean we should not expect it to be attempted? Is it enough to say that a thing is desirable, but to let laziness, apathy and external factors such as time constraints and commercial considerations stop us from striving to achieve it? There was also an over-reliance on references - often not supported by any original thought.

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See also:
2002 APC Prize topic and conditions of entry