Finalists announced for ASC Media Awards

15 December 2023

The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) is pleased to announce the finalists for this year’s Media Awards with the Matildas’ incredible performance on home soil at the FIFA Women’s World Cup a popular topic among the 47 finalists.

The Media Awards have been running for more than 21 years and recognise excellence in Australian sports journalism, broadcasting, production and photography. They are the only dedicated sports media awards in Australia.

The finalists represent an array of outlets with the majority of finalists coming from News Corp, Nine newspapers, ABC and Fox Sports. A number of emerging outlets are also represented as finalists.

Konrad Marshall (Good Weekend), Tom Decent (Sydney Morning Herald), Samantha Lewis (ABC Sport) and Mark Howard (Fox Sports/ The Howie Games podcast) have all been named as finalists in two separate categories for their work across the nomination period.

ASC CEO Kieren Perkins OAM said it was pleasing to see such strong interest across the 12 diverse categories in 2023.

“The ASC Media Awards continue to attract high quality entries from a range of organisations and this year has been no different,” Perkins said.

“Coverage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup is well represented across a number of categories while a range of broader issues, events and stories were covered diligently and professionally.

“Congratulations to this year’s finalists and thank you for the work you do connect Australians to sport.”

Finalists will be invited to an awards presentation at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 21 February 2024.

The ASC will also announce a new recipient of the prestigious Lifetime Achievement award – last year awarded to award-winning journalist and former ABC journalist Tracey Holmes.

Best reporting of an issue in sport

• Scott Gullan, HeraldSun ‘Peter Bol drugs scandal’
• Tom Decent, Sydney Morning Herald ‘The secret Zoom interview that ended a Wallabies coach’
• David Mark, ABC News ‘The investigation into paedophile rock climbing coach, Stephen Mitchell’
• Jake Niall, The Age ‘The fallout from the Hawthorn racism scandal’
• 7News Spotlight ‘Head knocks in sport'

Best sport profile – written

• Konrad Marshall, Good Weekend ‘Being Ben Simmons’
• Greg Baum, The Age ‘But wait, there’s Moore: why the Collingwood captain is not a conventional footballer’
• Adam Burnett, Cricket Australia ‘And so we pray: Fawad Ahmed’s hardest winter’
• Samantha Lewis, ABC Sport ‘Meet Angela Iannotta, Australia's forgotten World Cup pioneer’

Best sport profile – broadcast

• Danielle Laidley: Two Tribes, JamTV / Stan
• Matildas: The World at Our Feet, Barking Mad Productions / Disney+
• Sport Sunday presents Genevieve Gregson, Nine
• Dawn of the Dolphins, Onion TV / Stan
• Allan Border: My Story, Fox Sports

Best sport coverage by an individual – broadcast

• Mark Howard, Fox Sports / Triple M
• Gerard Whateley, SEN / Fox Footy
• Mel McLaughlin, Seven Network
• Corbin Middlemas, ABC Sport

Best sport podcast

• The Howie Games, Mark Howard / Listnr
• The Final Word Cricket Podcast, Geoff Lemon and Adam Collins
• ABC Sport Daily, Patrick Stack / ABC Sport
• AFL Daily, AFL Digital

Best sport coverage by an individual – written

• Tom Decent, Sydney Morning Herald
• Samantha Lewis, ABC Sport
• Julian Linden, News Corp
• Linda Pearce, CODE Sports

Best depiction of inclusive sport

• Konrad Marshall, Good Weekend ‘Life changes tomorrow’ and ‘I’m just being me’
• Insight Sport, News Corp ‘Pride issue’
• Jam TV / Stan ‘Danielle Laidley: Two Tribes’
• Andrew Wu, The Age ‘Being Asian in Australian sport’

Best sports photography

• Bradley Kanaris, ‘That Winning Feeling’
• Mark Evans, ‘Smashed It’
• Robert Cianflone, ‘Heart of a Nation’
• Cameron Spencer, ‘Kerr Boom’
• Daniel Pockett, ‘Pride’

Best coverage of a community sport issue– rural & regional media

• ABC News Tasmania ‘Stacking the Odds: Inside a Tasmanian harness racing juggernaut’
• Nic Darveniza, Townsville Bulletin ‘The sickness infecting Townsville junior rugby league’
• Briana Fiore and Anthony Pancia, ABC Regional Western Australia ‘The Fights of our Lives: a boxing story’
• Daniel Miles and Richard Crabtree, ABC South West Victoria ‘Stephen Giles, Victoria’s oldest active footballer’

Best coverage of sport for people with disability

• Bowls Australia
• Matthew Carmichael, Seven Network
• Kieran Pender, The Guardian
• That Pacific Sports Show, ABC Pacific ‘Oceania Para Badminton Championships’

Best coverage of sport by a club or organisation

• Baseball Australia, World Baseball Classic
• Football Australia, Matildas’ World Cup campaign
• Netball Australia, Diamonds’ World Cup campaign
• Parramatta Eels, 2023 NRL and NRLW seasons

Best coverage of a sporting event

• Optus Sport, 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup
• Seven Network, 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup
• Sydney Morning Herald/The Age, Australian Open 2023
• News Corp, 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup
• SBS, 2022 FIFA World Cup (Men’s)

The Media Awards have been running for more than 21 years and recognise excellence in Australian sports journalism, broadcasting, production and photography.