Age Journalist Scoops Industry Award

THE Age’s Ben Doherty has been named best print journalist in the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance’s Young Journalist of the Year award.

Doherty was one of 120 journalists aged 26 years and under who submitted entries from print, radio, television, photography and online media.

The big winner was Sophie McNeill for her report “Palestine: Divided it Falls”, broadcast on SBS’ Dateline program.

She will receive a $5000 prize and will fly to the United States and the United Kingdom to visit major media organisations.

McNeill, 23, worked alone on the story in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, displaying “a high level of courage and confidence” according to the judges.

Doherty was nominated for a portfolio of articles including his coverage of the Kerang rail disaster, a feature about a lifesaver who died, an investigation of the Grand Prix Corporation and a report on Prime Minister John Howard’s concession speech on election night last November.

The judges said “Doherty produced a body of work that rivalled that of more senior journalists, demonstrating the very best qualities of the profession”.

Doherty could not travel to Sydney to accept the award last night because he was in East Timor on a scholarship from the Asia Pacific Journalism Centre.

Winners in the radio, online and photographic categories respectively were: Michael Atkin of ABC radio’s Triple J for “Goat Death”; Asher Moses of The Sydney Morning Herald for “PM’s staff edited Wikipedia”, and photographer Andrew Quilty of The Australian Financial Review Magazine.

The Age’s media editor, Matthew Ricketson, was a judge in the print category.

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