Harrison Tippet of the Geelong Advertiser won the 2022 Regional and Rural Journalism Quill for “Institutional abuse: A city's scars laid bare”.

Judges' citation

Harrison Tippet’s piece on institutional abuse is an admirable and brave example of investigative journalism executed in a sensitive yet impactful manner. A thoroughly-researched and very well-written feature about re-pursuing abuse survivors claims. It was an original idea for a story with ongoing relevance for the community the publication serves, as well as for the state and the nation. Tippet’s story was empathetic and resulted in positive outcomes. More than a dozen other survivors came forward to launch legal action as a direct result of his journalism. Tippet built a strong trust among those survivors to ensure they were comfortable sharing their stories.

The winning piece

Institutional abuse: A city’s scars laid bare, Geelong Advertiser, 17 April 2022

Highly commended

Bonnie Barkmeyer, WIN News Victoria, “Central Victorian Flood Emergency”

Fiona Myers, The Weekly Times, “FMD Time Bomb”

Shortlisted

Hayley Elg and Timothy Cox, The Ballarat News, “Ballarat Clarendon College allegations” (Link 1, Link 2, Link 3)