Queensland Country Life and North Queensland Register senior journalist Sally Cripps has been announced as one of the winners in the Rural Press Club of Queensland 2017 Rural Media Awards.
Rural Press Club president Trent Thorne said the standard of entries in the journalism and photography categories from right across the state was very high.
“Our judges have noted that it was very satisfying to see such great work being produced at a time when the news industry is experiencing turbulence,” he said.
“It is heartening to see the dedication of our rural journalists to tell the stories of the people and industries of our state’s regional areas.”
The ABC’s Kallee Buchanan won the overall prize for journalism while The Australian’s Brian Cassey won the overall prize for his photography.
“Kallee’s excellent story-telling across a range of platforms means she will attend the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists’ world congress in South Africa in April,” Mr Thorne said.
As the overall runner-up across all journalism categories, Sally received $1000 towards attendance at the IFAJ congress.
Sally, who is based in Blackall, joined the Queensland Country Life just over four years ago, and quickly put her stamp of a number of rural issues.
Over time she has passionately written about the demise of the sheep industry and the ravages of wild dogs in the bush.
Other passions have included poor telecommunications options, and the drought growing daily out her back door.
Sally’s professionalism showed through as she focused on coverage of the gut-wrenching drought at the same time as the forces of nature were affecting her grazing interests in the Blackall district.
It was a series of drought stories, selected from the plethora that Sally has written about, which qualified her for the print award.
“As the drought wore on, I feared the onset of emotional fatigue in readers, and made it my job to keep finding fresh angles to help people understand the terrible impact taking place in their own backyard,” Sally said.
“I especially wanted to convey the feeling of helplessness that so many expressed to me.
“It’s hard to understand unless you’ve experienced that loss of effectiveness that makes up your sense of self, but I tried my best to get that across.”
Her stories included a documentation of the mercy mission by the Burrumbuttock Hay Runners to Ilfracombe last January, an incredible gesture from Australia to its food producers that captured national attention and over 100,000 page views.
Not long after that, Sally found herself on the tarmac at Longreach airport with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, come to inspect drought conditions.
While following her visit to Ilfracombe she discovered an amazing story of fortitude by a nearby grazier.
With not a drop of water, salty or fresh, for hundreds of kilometres around, Julie Brown decided that, rather than let the drought have the upper hand, she was going to begin a beachwear business, which has since become a roaring success.
“Julie and I each cried as we talked about how impotent drought makes you feel, and how good it feels to be doing something to combat that,” Sally said.
“A similar theme permeated the other two stories in the series I submitted – Ros at Blackall was so stoic, and Richard at Longreach was realistic as he admitted he didn’t have what it took to ‘stand up in the stirrups’ and start again when the drought broke.
“People were frank with me, and I wanted to do them justice.”
Sally said her stories had featured in all sections of the Queensland Country Life – in the news pages, the social section, and in the livestock and markets columns – which showed how seriously the organisation took its coverage of the drought and the impact it was having on all facets of readers’ lives.
Queensland Country Life editor Penelope Arthur said Sally was a first class journalist, a natural story teller and truly passionate about advancing the views of rural Queenslanders.
"Combine these skills with Sally's insatiable work ethic and you get an award winning result," Mrs Arthur said.
"We are immensely proud and fortunate to have Sally on the QCL team.
"Her series of stories on the drought were both heartfelt and balanced.
They were never sensationalist but just managed to get to the heart of the challenges being faced by landholders during the dry years."
The category winners below are now Queensland’s entries for the Australian Council of Agricultural Journalists’ Star Prizes which could lead on to the IFAJ international competition.
Journalism winners:
- Print - Sally Cripps, Queensland Country Life: "Drought series"
- TV - Marty McCarthy, ABC Landline, ABC News: "Panama Tropical Race 4"
- Radio - Kallee Buchanan, ABC Local Radio and Radio National: "Mary River Turtle Survey"
- Online - Kallee Buchanan and Ross Kay, ABC Online: "Inside the secret, fleeting sex life of tropical dragon fruit"
- Social Media – Fiona Lake, @FionaLakeAus
Photography winners:
- People - Brian Cassey, The Australian, "Beef Boss"
- Landscape and Nature - Scott Radford-Chisholm, Townsville Bulletin / Northern Miner, "Helen had a little lamb"
- Production - Evan Morgan, Townsville Bulletin, "Steven Elliot in his shed"