Chloe Hooper won her second Walkley Award in the category Feature Writing Long, for her March cover story in The Monthly, Goddamn bloody adult: Jacqui Lambie. In a remarkable piece of journalism, Hooper profiles one of Australia’s most intriguing and controversial politicians, after spending months talking to Senator Lambie and finding out how the public persona matches the private person.

“The always-brilliant Chloe Hooper is a deserving winner of the 2022 Walkley for long-form writing,” says editor of The Monthly Michael Williams. “Her Jacquie Lambie essay – both intimate and magisterial – is a rare political profile that gets beyond the pre-packaged image and presents its subject in human, clarifying terms. This is what long-form journalism is for.”

Hooper’s piece is The Monthly’s ninth Walkley Award–winning essay, reinforcing the magazine’s reputation as the home of the nation’s finest thinkers, journalists and critics. The Monthly also swept the category, with the remaining nominations awarded to Anna Krien’s May cover story A shooting in Yuendumu and John van Tiggelen’s August cover story The wash-up. Williams says, “The entire shortlist in the category was a reminder that there’s nowhere else like The Monthly: the place where our finest writers do their best work.”

The Saturday Paper was honoured with photographer Natalie Grono’s win in the News Photography category. Grono was awarded for her photograph “Peter takes a moment”, featured on The Saturday Paper’s front page coverage of the Northern Rivers floods in March.

Schwartz Media’s editor-in-chief, Erik Jensen said: “Schwartz Media is thrilled to have won two Walkleys last night: one for Chloe Hooper’s extraordinary profile of Jacqui Lambie and another for Natalie Grono’s arresting coverage of the Northern Rivers floods.”

The night marked another impressive year for Schwartz Media’s independent publications. While 7am was a finalist in the category of Outstanding Public Service Journalism for The Killing of Ann Marie Smith, The Saturday Paper was also nominated for Analysis, Opinion and Critique, with Erik Jensen’s “The Morrison editorials” (Because I said; The halfway man; Scott of the autarchic)”.

Jensen says: “Across Schwartz Media and Black Inc. there were eight nominations this year – a testament to the quality, independent journalism we produce each day. Brownyn Adcock, who writes regularly for The Monthly and The Saturday Paper, also deserves special mention for winning the Walkley Book Award.”

The Walkley Award winners were announced at the ICC Sydney on Thursday, November 17, 2022.

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Image credit: PHEBE SCHMIDT