2026 Student Awards — Democracy's Watchdogs

Student Awards 2026 - Open Now

Award for investigative stories now open.

Democracy’s Watchdogs’ award for the best investigative story by a university journalism student is open for entries.

Students can enter the award by completing the form below. The deadline for entries is December 7. The submitted stories need to have been published in 2026.

The award is open to undergraduate and postgraduate journalism students in Australia and New Zealand.

The winner will receive $1000 and an engraved trophy while runners up will be sent highly commended certificates. These honours are terrific additions to a CV because the judges are recognised in the industry as respected editors with decades of experience.

Group entries will be accepted. The entered stories can be online/ print stories, videos, podcasts, multimedia, photographs – any online format. They should reveal information or insights that are in the public interest. The judges will look for newsworthiness, originality, research, ethics, creativity, possible impact and the grit and determination demonstrated by the student. AI can be used for research but stories written by AI will not be judged.

For further information contact CEO Bill Birnbauer.

And congratulations to Zac Nikoloski, last year’s winner, who now has a job as a journalist/reporter at Mumbrella.

Key dates:

Opening date for entries: Now

Deadline for entries: Midnight, December 7

Winner and highly commended entrants announced: December 18

Entry Details:

How to enter: Entrants are required to complete the online application form below. They should use this form to submit their entry. Students may provide URLs, file sharing and streaming platforms that link to their entry. Reminder: entries will not be accepted after midnight on December 7, 2026.

Stories: Written and multimedia entries can be any length. Videos and podcasts have no time limits.

Group entries: The entry should be submitted once only by one member on behalf of the group. The names of each member of the group should be listed on the online application form below. Members of the group are not permitted to submit the same work as an individual entry.

Supporting Statement : Briefly state why you selected the story, how you did it and why it matters. Don’t forget to provide links sourced by AI and that their accuracy has been verified. Assignments or stories that build on assignments will be accepted, but any input or contribution by lecturers, classmates, journalists or others must be clearly detailed on the online form.

Declaration: Students must declare on the online application form that the story is their original work and that they have complied with copyright requirements, as well as the MEAA code of ethics. Students must confirm the story has not been written by generative AI.

Judging: The criteria for judging will include, but not be limited to, newsworthiness, originality, public interest, research, content, ethics, creativity, possible impact and the grit and determination demonstrated by the student.

Final judging will be by Jill Baker, a Walkley award-winning journalist, author and former editor of The Sunday Age and Sunday Herald Sun; Michael Smith OAM, president of Democracy’s Watchdogs and a former editor of The Age; *Monica Attard OAM, co-director of Centre for Media Transition and Dr Bill Birnbauer, founder and CEO of Democracy’s Watchdogs and a former award-winning journalist and academic. The judges’ decisions are final.

*Non-UTS entries only.

Please direct any questions to Bill Birnbauer, CEO.

Honour Roll

Democracy’s Watchdogs has hosted an annual award for the best investigative stories by student journalists since 2020. We proudly foster journalism that enhances our democratic processes and promotes excellence in tomorrow’s journalists. Below are the winners of our award.