Hens' night at the Walkleys

All the excitable pants-wetting over Milne v Mayne at the Walkley Awards ceremony the other night has completely obscured the fact that it was women journalists who walked away with nearly all the top-line awards.

Chris Boyd has a nice post at Sarsparilla about the awards night; he describes the pleasure of a journo from Bendigo who, to his own surprise, won a Walkley for his work on the water crisis -- but whose moment in the spotlight got edited out of the SBS telceast to make way for a replay of the Mayne/Milne face-off.

Similarly, the women whose genuine achievements were recognised have gone almost unnoticed in the press's coverage of its own prize night.

For the record, then, here are the top eight awards:

Gold Walkley - Liz Jackson, Lin Buckfield, Peter Cronau, Four Corners, ABC TV: Stoking the Fires.

Nikon-Walkley Australian Press Photographer of the Year - Kate Geraghty, The Sydney Morning Herald: Lebanon.

Walkley for Journalism Leadership - Michelle Grattan, political editor, The Age, and political commentator, ABC Radio National Breakfast.

Walkley for Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism - Colleen Egan, The Sunday Times.

Print News Report - Michael Beach and Viva Goldner, The Daily Telegraph: Marcus Einfeld.

Sport News Reporting - Danny Weidler, National Nine News: Russell's Rabbits.

Radio News Reporting - Tim Palmer, ABC Radio: Bali Suicide Bombings.

Investigative Journalism - Caroline Overington, The Australian and The Weekend Australian: AWB Kickback Scandal.