The Gazette has won a Rural Press Club of Victoria award for our Vietnam Veteran series including stories and podcasts.
The award for Most Innovative Journalism recognised our "My Service, My Story" series and "His Service, Our Story" special edition.
The initiative, in collaboration with Warragul RSL, was brought to life by journalists Nicholas Duck and Bonnie Collings and our digital communications specialist Lucy Jones.
Former Warragul RSL president Ben Vahland and Gazette editor Yvette Brand worked together to develop the idea which was launched in the lead up to Remembrance Day last year and a second series for Anzac Day.
The work of the Warragul RSL media operations group, including Gavan Kearney, Bob Green and Shane Keppel, cannot go unnoticed in assisting us to develop the initiative.
But the people we must recognise the most are the veterans who bravely shared their stories including Terry Gleeson, Alan Eade, Keith Anderson, Lynton Malley, John Grace, Mike Latimer, Ivan Standen, Rod McNab; and, Maggie and Hans Rehorn who shared their story in the "His Service, Our Story" special edition.
The judge complimented The Gazette on its use of multiple platforms to tell and promote the stories including print and online content, podcasts and accompanying social media promotion.
"The storytelling complimented rather than replaced the news outlet's primary form of disseminating news, the paper," the judge said.
We are very proud to win this award for a series that received so much community support and it was a privilege to tell the stories of our veterans.
After previously being held in other regional centres, for the first time the awards dinner was held in Gippsland at the West Gippsland Arts Centre, Warragul.
The Gazette also was proudly a finalist for Media Outlet of the Year among some very strong company including ABC Gippsland, The Weekly Times, Warrnambool Standard and ABC Country Hour. We received a "commended" in this category and congratulate the team at ABC Gippsland for winning Media Outlet of the Year.
The Gazette also received:
Commended – Emma Ballingall, Community Champion Award
Commended – Bonnie Collings, Young Journalist of the Year
Highly Commended – Bonnie Collings, Best News Photograph.