The finalists in Democracy’s Watchdogs’ 2022 awards for investigative reporting have been announced.

Congratulations to the finalists and well done to everyone who entered the awards. For the first time, the awards were open to students from New Zealand and it’s great to have an entry from Massey University in Wellington among the finalists. The judges were very pleased by the overall standard of the entries.

One student, Grace Stranger, from University of Technology Sydney, is a finalist in both the print/online category and the video/ audio category. Congratulations Grace!

We had entries from 10 universities, once again confirming that university journalism courses are producing in-depth stories that are in the public interest and that students are interested in pursuing issues that hold power to account and probe challenging concerns. The standard of entries was very positive for the future of journalism in Australia and New Zealand.

The winners of the awards will receive $1000 plus trophies and all the finalists will be sent highly commended certificates. The winners will be announced on December 9.

The list of finalists and the judges’ comments can be accessed on our student awards page.