Journalist of the Year 2011

Further, the award is presented to the journalist with a demonstrated ability to break news stories, convey the complex issues of the industry to a broad audience, and represent the high standards of Australian and New Zealand aviation journalism – Geoffrey Thomas, of Australian Aviation and Air Transport World.

Thomas, one of the most well regarded voices in the aviation industry, consistently showed again in 2011 a remarkable depth of industry knowledge and masterful comprehension of the issues affecting aviation in Australia and around the world.

He was presented with the Airservices Australia and Cathay Pacific Journalist of the Year trophy, $5000 cash and two return business class tickets to Asia, courtesy of Cathay Pacific Airways, by Rob Walker, Manager of Corporate Communications, Airservices Australia, and Dane Cheng, General Manager South West Pacific, Cathay Pacific.

The cash prize of $2500 for runner-up Aviation Journalist of the Year went to Andrew Cleary of the Australian Financial Review, whose demonstrated ability to find news, not only report it, has led to a number of exclusive stories across issues of importance to the industry.

Other finalists, in alphabetical order, were: Tom Ballantyne, Orient Aviation; Andrew McLaughlin, Australian Aviation & Australian Defence Business Review; Matt O’Sullivan, The Sydney Morning Herald; and Stewart Wilson, Aero Australia.

Again in 2011, one of Australia’s most prolific aviation reporters, Steve Creedy, disqualified himself from the awards by taking on the NAPC Presidency.

Aviation News Story of the Year

In another full year for aviation news, entries for the 2011 Aviation News Story of the Year covered the breadth of the aviation industry, including airline restructures, safety related issues, defence decisions facing Australian and New Zealand governments, and environmental initiatives.

The 15 entries in the news category were judged on their news breaking capacity, overall credibility and accuracy, the importance of the issues discussed, the level of understanding demonstrated, and writing style.

The winner of the $2500 prize and the Embraer trophy for the 2011 Aviation News Story of the Year, presented by Shorbani Roy, Manager of Corporate Communications Asia Pacific for Embraer, was Andrew McLaughlin from Australian Aviation.

McLaughlin, the 2010 winner of the NAPC Aviation Journalist of the Year, submitted the story ‘Examining the logical option’, which considered the motives behind Minister for Defence Stephen Smith’s speculation that the Super Hornet provided a logical option to mitigate ongoing delays with the Joint Strike Fighter.

The cash prize of $1500 for runner up in this category went to Andrew Cleary, whose Australian Financial Review story ‘Qantas plans Asian airlineto bust unions’, published in May, provided an insight into the airline’s considerations as it grappled with the dual challenges of strengthening its international operations and industrial resistance to change it saw as critical to its survival.

Highly commended for this category were: – Matt O’Sullivan of The Sydney Morning Herald for ‘Qantas executives freed after secret deal’; – Geoffrey Thomas in Air Transport World for ‘Bernstein: Boeing confronts 787 ramp up, program profitability’; and – Peter Clark in New Zealand Aviation News for ‘Ash cloud brings hot air’.

Aviation Technical Story of the Year

The Aviation Technical Story of the Year is a specialised category focusing on developments in aviation technology and commercial aerospace, including aircraft, avionics and air traffic management.

Success requires not only a comprehensive understanding of the often highly technical issues, but also an ability to clearly articulate these to a broad readership.

The 19 entries in this category covered a wide range of subjects, spanning air traffic management reform, manufacturing technology, airline fleet planning, ongoing developments in aircraft technology, aviation training and environmental initiatives.

Presented by David Mair on behalf of Rolls-Royce, the $2500 prize and Rolls- Royce trophy for the 2011 Aviation Technical Story of the Year was awarded to Paul Phelan.

Taking category honours for the second year in a row, Phelan’s winning story ‘Birds? What birds?’ published by Aviation Advertiser provided a detailed analysis of the handling of allegations of reckless flying against a helicopter pilot.

Leveraging his own experiences as a pilot with some 17,000 flying hours, Phelan showed a commitment to the story by building a scale model of the helicopter in question, in a bid to examine all aspects of the case.

The $1250 cash prize for runner-up in this category went to Geoffrey Thomas for the Australian Aviation piece ‘Black swans: Training for the unexpected in the age of automation’, which looked at the dangers of an over-reliance on technology to solve all of the problems.

Highly commended in this category were: – Nigel Pittaway of Asia Pacific Defence Reporter for ‘Expanding the envelope – Wedgetail AEW&C’; – Matt O’Sullivan of The Sydney Morning Herald for ‘Qantas aircraft punt comes unstuck’; and – Andrew Cleary of Australian Financial Review for ‘Airline biofuels plans fail to get Canberra on board’.

Aviation Feature of the Year

The Aviation Feature of the Year is a hard fought category, and 2011 was no exception. With 28 entries, the category again attracted the most entries in this year’s Aviation Media Awards.

In a case of deja vu, judges again found themselves considering stories about disruptive volcanic ash clouds, the lessons learnt in the decade since the collapse of Ansett, the QF32 incident, airport operations and the growth prospects for aviation in the Asia Pacific.

Feature writing is an often specialised skill, and entries in this category were judged on an ability to present issues of importance to the industry in a thoughtprovoking way, a demonstrated understanding of the issue discussed, and the relevance and accuracy of the issue presented.

Presented by Isabelle Floret, Senior Vice President Pacific for Airbus, the $2500 cheque and Airbus trophy for the 2011 Aviation Feature of the Year was awarded to Geoffrey Thomas. Thomas’s Australian Aviation feature story ‘What damage done? The QF32 catastrophic unconfined failure’, was a clear standout in the field, providing one of the most detailed journalistic reviews of the incident.

The cash prize of $1250 for the runner-up in this category was awarded to Gerard Frawley of Australian Aviation magazine. Frawley’s piece ‘Change agent’ looked back over the significant achievements of Virgin Australia CEO John Borghetti in his tumultuous first year in the job.

Highly commended were: – Matt O’Sullivan of The Sydney Morning Herald for ‘Flying into trouble’; – Tom Ballantyne writing for Orient Aviation for ‘Game changing’; – Andrew Cleary writing for the Australian Financial Review’s Boss Magazine for

‘Crash through’; and – Adrian Schofield of Aviation Week for ‘ADS-B Down Under’.

Aviation Defence Story of the Year The high standard of entries in the 2011 Aviation Media Awards continued in the Defence category.

2011 is the fourth year the Defence category has been included, and the calibre and diversity of the 14 entries illustrate its good health.

Entries covered topics spanning support and sustainment programs, the future of unmanned aircraft, pilot training, forces structure, defence exercises and the history of military aircraft in Australia.

Entries were judged on the basis of subject value and importance to the industry, the writer’s demonstrated understanding of defence issues, depth of coverage and style, and accuracy.

The $2500 prize and Boeing trophy for the 2011 Aviation Defence Story of the Year, presented by Bill Profilet, Vice President of Business Development Australia for Boeing Defence, Space and Security, was awarded to Rob Neil of Pacific Wings magazine.

Neil’s article ‘A “Grizzly” Future for the RNZAF?’ provided a detailed consideration of the future makeup of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and demonstrated a clear, comprehensive understanding of defence issues in New Zealand.

The runner-up prize of $1250 went to Andrew McLaughlin for his article ‘Air 5401– closing in on contact’, published in Australian Defence Business Review. The story examined the delayed delivery of the KC-30 Multi Role Tanker to the RAAF.

Highly commended were: – Gerard Frawley, writing in Australian Defence Business Review for ‘Critical Phase’; – Michael Serenc, of Australian Aviation for ‘Rhino rage, Hornet sting’; and – Stewart Wilson, Aero Australia, for ‘Made in Australia: Aircraft for the RAAF’.

Aviation Photograph of the Year In its sixth year, the category attracted 18 high quality entries covering all aspects of aviation, from tricky airport approaches, to acrobatic planes, military jets, commercial airlines and rotorcraft.

Entries were judged on the basis of the photograph telling a story, its originality, composition and impact.

The entry criteria are designed to ensure only the very best aviation photographs are captured in the awards by photographers based across Australia and New Zealand.

As announced by Doug Park, Senior Vice President Australia and New Zealand Operations, Hawker Pacific, the $2500 cheque and Hawker Pacific trophy for the 2011 Aviation Photograph of the Year went to Nigel Pittaway for his photograph ‘Hornet and Super Hornet’, published in the RAAF 90th Anniversary Special of Aero Australia, which ticked all the boxes for story telling, composition and impact.

The $1250 runner-up prize went to Derek Flynn for his photograph ‘Q300 nose grind’, published in the Marlborough Express, capturing a particularly tricky landing.

Highly commended were: – Paul Sadler in Australian Aviation for ‘At your 6, Garry’ and ‘Pig’s final flight’; – Peter Clark in New Zealand Aviation News for ‘B-1B Lancer’; and – Will Horton in Flight Global for ‘Hornet double stack’.