 |
|
The Quill Awards for Excellence in Victorian Journalism are the premier media awards in the State.
|
The Quills were established by the Melbourne Press Club in 1995, with 10 awards sponsored by Tattersall's. They have grown quickly to provide awards in 25 categories and further special awards, including the Gold Quill, now sponsored by the club's principal sponsor, Monash University.
Total prize money for the Quills now exceeds $20,000, thanks to generous sponsorship of the Melbourne Press Club, especially from Monash University.
Entries for the Quills open in December each year and close in late January or early in February. The presentation dinner is held in March or April.
Since 1995, the prestigious Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year Award has been presented at the Quills dinner.
The best category winner of the Quills is selected as the Monash University Gold Quill winner, with a $5,000 prize. Category winners receive $500 and a Quills statuette.
Since 1998, the Quills presentation night has included the Grant Hattam Award, sponsored by the Herald & Weekly Times, in honor of the media lawyer Grant Hattam, who died that year. From 2004, this award was renamed the Grant Hattam Award for Investigative Journalism, with expanded criteria. The award will be made to the entrant judged to have made an outstanding contribution to investigative journalism. The work will uphold the right for journalists to publish or broadcast in the public interest under difficult circumstances, which might include legal restraints. The prize for this award will be $1000 and the Hattam winner will be eligible to win the $5,000 Monash University Gold Quill.
The Press Club may also award a Lifetime Achievement Award on Quills night. Winners so far have been Keith Dunstan, Peter McFarline, Les Tanner, Peter Game, John Sorell, Harry Gordon, Claude Forell, Les Carlyon and John Fitzgerald.
The club also selects a Young Journalist of the Year, who is given travel costs to attend one of the world's best journalism conferences, the annual Investigative Reporters and Editors conference in the United States. A separate entry form is provided for this category.
Judging panels for the Quills are assembled by the Melbourne Press Club, drawing on present and former journalists and editors and other relevant professionals. Members of the MPC committee may sit on judging panels, but not if they have entered a piece of work in any category.
There is no entry fee for Melbourne Press Club Members nominating for Quill Awards. Non-members must pay a $50 entry fee. There is no entry fee for Young Journalist of the Year.
All entrants must fill in a Quills entry form and study the Rules and Judging Criteria. There is a separate entry form for the Young Journalist of the Year.
|
