May 21, 2026 — 4:29pmJournalists from The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald have been named among the finalists for the nation’s most prestigious journalism awards.The Walkley Awards are highly coveted in newsrooms across Australia.Walkley FoundationThe Walkley Foundation unveiled the full list of nominees for its mid-year media prizes on Thursday. Among them is a co-production by national health reporter Liam Mannix and the Brisbane Times′ William Davis into the rise and fall of Mark Smyth, once one of Australia’s most revered scientists. It is one of three articles in the running to win in the science and environment category.This masthead’s extensive reporting on misogyny in Australian medicine is shortlisted for the Women’s Leadership in Media Prize. The series won the Walkley for specialist and beat reporting at the 2025 awards.This series by Kate Aubusson, Aisha Dow and Emily Kaine uncovered hundreds of cases in which women said they had been disbelieved, misdiagnosed or wrongly admitted to hospital, leading to serious disease and even death.In a co-production with Nine News, which is owned by the company that publishes this masthead, Neary Ty drew on her own family’s challenges to chronicle the survivors of the four-year genocide in Cambodia, 50 years after it began. That article has now been recognised with a nomination in the Media Diversity Australia Prize.Linda Morris has been recognised in the arts journalism and arts criticism category for her article “For arts’ sake”.The mid-year awards have also recognised several reporters at The Sydney Morning Herald.Education reporter Emily Kowal’s exposé on the digital predators of artificial intelligence and on Roblox is a finalist in the short-form journalism category, where she is joined by crime reporter Riley Walter, nominated for his investigation into the Penthouse Syndicate.Walter has also been nominated in the specialist and beat reporting category for a collection of crime stories spanning the Penthouse Syndicate, the Bondi massacre, and the maritime and border bungle that allowed a tonne of cocaine to be imported into Australia.The winners of the mid-tear Walkley Awards will be announced in Sydney on June 18. The annual Walkley Award winners will be announced in November.Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.From our partners