There have been many words written and said about Melbourne sports journalist Sam Landsberger in the days after his tragic death. A recurring theme has been Sam's decency: he was a great human being, with the admirable knack of always being true to himself. I worked with Sam in his early days at Leader Community Newspapers, where under the watchful eye of the seasoned sports journalist Paul Amy, Sam learned the priorities of reporting and the skill of writing good journalism. Among the many young journalists I've worked with, Sam stood out for his eager desire to be better every day - he wanted to learn, he wanted to know, he wanted to find out what it took to grow in the job he loved.

When Sam won the Sports News Quill Award last year, for his exclusive about the newly-installed Essendon CEO's role with a controversial church, the judges said: "It was Sam Landsberger's exclusive that takes the prize, because it goes to the basics of good news journalism - going beyond the press release, digging around and doing it all first.''

That was Sam. As much as all of us who knew Sam will miss him, so too will journalism: we always need those reporters who find things out and tell it first.

Nick Richardson, CEO, Melbourne Press Club