Mercury shines at media awards

MERCURY journalists were among the big winners at the 2020 Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance Awards last night.

Presented via online video stream for the first time, the Mercury won three of the 13 categories.

Simon Bevilacqua won the award for best Comment and Analysis for “The magical lost art of the spiral punt”, “Shells and shacks: a reverie on the Tasmanian way of life”, and “China syndrome: It’s time to talk about the dragon in the room”.

Linda Smith took out the Health Reporting award for her piece titled “People Power”, while Loretta Lohberger, who now works for the ABC, for the second year in a row, won the Excellence in Legal Reporting award for her work “After the Verdict”.

Another three of the night’s finalists were from our team — Chris Kidd, Chanel Kinniburgh and Tim Martain.

Mercury editor Jenna Cairney said the awards underpinned the masthead’s dedication to keeping Tasmanians informed.

“We’re very proud of our talented winners and finalists, whose work has once again been recognised in these awards. But, most importantly, we are proud of the enormous team effort that goes into the Mercury and Sunday Tasmanian in print and online,” she said.

The Examiner’s Frances Vinall bagged four awards, including Best New Journalist.

Journalist of the Year was awarded to the ABC’s Rhiana Whitson for “Tasmania’s Health Crisis” while the Meander Valley Gazette’s Sharon Webb won Best News Story for “How Westbury became a site for a new prison”.