The Arthur Lovekin Prize for Excellence in Journalism is an annual

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

award An award, sometimes called a distinction, is given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An award may be d ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. The Prize was established with the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

in 1928 by

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

, newspaper owner and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

Arthur Lovekin Arthur Lovekin (12 November 1859 – 10 December 1931) was an Australian journalist, newspaper proprietor, and politician. He had a long association with '' The Daily News'' in Perth, Western Australia, initially as editor and later as owner. H ...

, who endowed £100 to provide an annual prize for students taking the diploma course for Journalism. The annual prize, initially of £5/5/-, was given to the most successful student, providing there was a student of sufficient merit. It has been awarded since 1929. Since then the prize has been opened to all undergraduate and postgraduate students enrolled at UWA and to members of the Western Australian branch of the

Australian Journalists' Association The Australian Journalists Association (AJA) was an Australian trade union for journalists from 1910–1992. In 1913 the Australian Journalists' Association merged with the Australian Writers' and Artists' Union. This union had been formed in 19 ...

'Media' section of the

Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) is the Australian trade union and professional organisation which covers the media industry, media, entertainment industry, entertainment, sports and arts industries. Its Musicians section consis ...

. Currently, the winner receives $200 and a

medal A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be in ...

. The Prize "…is awarded to the writer of the contribution which, in the opinion of the examiners, is the best contribution of the year by a Western Australian journalist published in an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

periodical Periodical literature (singularly called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) consists of Publication, published works that appear in new releases on a regular schedule (''issues'' or ''numbers'', often numerically divided into annu ...

produced, published or circulated in Western Australia." Each candidate for the prize can submit only one contribution for consideration. The year is from 1 July to 30 June, but a candidate may submit for consideration a continuing story concerning a connected series of events, provided that the story commences prior to 30 June and is completed not later than 15 July. The judges are the Discipline Chair of the Media and Communication discipline or nominee; a professor of Media Communications, or nominee; and a representative of the Media Section of the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance.

Winners

*1929:

Paul Hasluck Sir Paul Meernaa Caedwalla Hasluck (1 April 1905 – 9 January 1993) was an Australian statesman who served as the 17th Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1969 to 1974. Prior to that, he was a Liberal Party politician, holding minis ...

*1930: Paul Hasluck *1931: Kenneth McKenna *1932: Albert Edwin Dunstan *1933: Noel L. Ottaway *1934: Noel L. Ottaway *1935: Gabriel Parry *1936: Norman Bartlett *1937: No prize awarded *1938: No prize awarded *1939: G.C. Lefroy *1940: G.J. Odgers *1941: No prize awarded *1942: No prize awarded *1943: No prize awarded *1944: No prize awarded *1945: No prize awarded *1946: Douglas Royston Pratt *1947: R.G. Clarke *1948: J.E. Coulter *1949: C. Henderson *1950: J.N. Brown *1951: Hugh Schmitt *1952: N. Milne *1953: J.L.G. Marshall *1954: No prize awarded *1955: N.C. Braidwood *1956: No prize awarded *1957: John Payne *1958: No prize awarded *1959: No prize awarded *1960: No prize awarded *1961: No prize awarded *1962:

Lloyd Marshall Lloyd Marshall (June 4, 1914 – August 4, 1997) was an American light heavyweight boxer who competed from 1936 to 1951. Although he never fought for a world title, Marshall was a skilled fighter who faced tough opposition throughout his career ( ...

*1963: Hugh Edwards *1964: James Henderson *1965: John McIlwraith *1966: Philip Bodeker *1967: Catherine Martin & Peter Ellery *1968: P.J. Finn *1969: Catherine Martin *1970-1972: unknown *1973: Catherine Martin *1974: unknown *1975: Catherine Martin *1976: Bret Christian *1977-1978: unknown *1979: Catherine Martin *1980: Andre Malan *1981-1984: unknown *1985: Paul Murray *1986: Cyril Ayris *1987: Unknown *1988: Martin Saxon *1989: Robyn Cash *1990: Cyril Ayris *1991: Mike van Niekerk *1992:

Mark Thornton Mark Thornton (born June 7, 1960) is an American economist of the Austrian School. DiLorenzo, Thomas (2011-02-11My Associations with Liars, Bigots, and Murderers '' LewRockwell.com'' He has written on the topic of prohibition of drugs, the econo ...

*1993: Brendan Nicholson *1994: Marnie McKimmie *1995: Margot Lang *1996: Vanessa Gould *1997: Michael Day *1998: Norman Aisbett *1999: Bevan Eakins *2000: Kim Macdonald *2001: John Flint *2002:

Colleen Egan Colleen Egan is an Australian politician and former journalist. She is member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for the electoral district of Thornlie. A member of the Labor Party, she won her seat at the 2025 Western Australian ...

& Victoria Laurie *2003: John Flint *2004: Bret Christian *2005: Steve Pennells *2006: Steve Pennells *2007: Steve Pennells *2008: George Williams *2009: Gary Adshead *2010: Paige Taylor, Gary Adshead and Sean Cowan. *2011: Marnie McKimmie, Cathy O’Leary and Angela Pownall *2012: Paige Taylor *2013: Steve Pennells *2014: John Flint *2015: Paige Taylor & Natasha Robinson *2016: David Cohen *2017: No prize awarded *2018: Tony Barrass *2019: Nathan Hondros *2020: Annabel Hennessy *2021: Aja Styles *2022: Peter de Kruijff *2023: John Flint *2024: Kathryn Diss

References

{{Reflist Australian journalism awards Awards established in 1928 1928 establishments in Australia