The prestigious Anne Dunn Scholar Award was established in 2014 to commemorate the life and work of a much-valued colleague, Associate Professor Anne Dunn (1952–2012). The $3000 award is jointly supported by the Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia (JERAA), the Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand Communication Association (AANZCA), and Anne’s siblings and mother. It recognises excellence in research about the fields of journalism or communications, including but not limited to broadcast media for the public benefit. We welcome applications from scholars who can demonstrate a body of work befitting this award.

2025 Anne Dunn Scholar

The Journalism Education and Research Association (JERAA) and the Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand Communication Association (AANZCA) are delighted to announce that the 2025 winner of the Anne Dunn Scholar Award is Prof Colleen Murrell, School of Communications, Dublin City University.

Murrell said upon receiving notification of the award, “I am deeply honoured and thrilled to be given this award. Anne Dunn was such an important scholar at a vital time for the growth of journalism in the Australian academy. Years back when she was president, she pushed me to apply for a JERAA research grant, which happily I won, and which helped seed some of my early research projects. Anne was a great leader of the JERAA executive, which I later joined. The work that JERAA and AANZCA carry out provides such a positive support to their members and I am happy to note that so many younger academics are now coming through to continue the great work of previous scholars in the field.”

Murrell’s work – in both her broadcasting and her academic career – has mostly focused on international newsgathering and comparative public service broadcasting. As a journalist she worked for a number of international organisations including the BBC, ITN, AP, ABC Australia and SBS. During her time as a producer, reporter, presenter and news editor, she travelled extensively in Europe, the Middle East and the US.

After her arrival in Australia and a maternity break, she was a reporter on SBS’s radio programme ‘World View’ and a newsreader and reporter for ABC’s radio programming into the Asia Pacific, ‘Radio Australia’. After a year of sessional work at Deakin University (2002-3), she was employed as a full-time lecturer and then senior lecturer (2003-2016) and later moved to further positions at Monash University (2016-18); Swinburne University of Technology, as an associate professor (2018-19) and from there to Dublin City University as a full professor of journalism (2020-to present). At DCU Colleen teaches and convenes modules in international news, TV, radio, and podcasting.  Murrell’s latest book, BBC Women Reporting the World: Conversations with Foreign Correspondents, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in September. It looks at the challenges women have faced inside the corporation on their way to achieving fulfilling international careers.

Murrell has always worked hard for her students and has been rewarded by student success and teaching prizes. While at Deakin she helped set up a mentoring programme for NESBY and refugee journalists at SBS and has been a consultant in Ireland for the John Schofield Trust, another mentoring programme promoting diversity in hiring practices of young journalists. She has successfully supervised PhD students from India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia and Ireland. In 2024-5 she was invited to be an academic mentor for the national ‘Preparing for Academic Advancement (PAA) Programme’. Over the past few years in Ireland she has participated as a PhD examiner for students from Australia, NZ, Ireland and the UK.

Murrell has helped build bridges between the academy and industry by taking part in judging media prizes, working pro bono for many years as a judge for the United Nations of Australia Media Freedom Awards, plus for the Canadian Mindset Awards and the NewsBrands Ireland Awards. Her work as the lead author of the annual Reuters Digital News Report Ireland has constituted an important piece of research for industry as its detailed data (100+ pages) contains valuable information as market research and it has been translated into countless media articles over the years. Murrell writes regularly on international news topics for The Conversation UK. She is the chair of the Conversation’s editorial committee and a pro bono trustee.

Previous Winners

2024 Scholar: A/Prof Willa McDonald

JERAA and ANZCA are delighted to announce that the 2024 winner of the Anne Dunn Scholar Award is A/Prof Willa McDonald, Department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language and Literature, Macquarie University.

Over the past twenty years, McDonald’s research has been foundational in establishing literary journalism as a national and international field of study.

Associate Professor McDonald has published two monographs, a co-authored edited collection, a textbook, 11 scholarly book chapters, 12 peer-reviewed journal articles, and is currently co-editing a special Australian issue of Literary Journalism Studies. She has presented more than 30 papers at local and international conferences and events and published 16 reviews and articles for general audiences in outlets such as The Conversation, the Australian Dictionary of Biography, and the Australian Media Hall of Fame.

In terms of impact, Associate Professor McDonald’s contributions to the field have been recognised most recently by her election to the role of President of the International Association of Literary Journalism Studies from 2025.

Importantly, Associate Professor McDonald knew Anne Dunn. Willa says, “Anne’s academic work was always worth reading, raising as it often did, the issues we experience in the education of journalists, particularly around the balance between the academy’s primary aim of opening and deepening minds and the desire of industry and students for vocational training. I hope I echo Anne’s example in striving to achieve a balance between training for careers and educating students and the public in the complex and nuanced media issues that academic research explores.”

2023 Scholar: Prof Matthew Ricketson

JERAA and ANZCA are delighted to announce that the 2023 winner of the Anne Dunn Scholar Award is Professor Matthew Ricketson, Acting Head of School, and Professor of Communication, in the Faculty of Arts and Education at Deakin University.

Professor Ricketson is widely known as an accomplished Australian journalism scholar and distinguished former journalist.

He is recognised as a thought leader in Australian journalism theory and practice and is known internationally for his wide-ranging research on long-form journalism, media accountability, newsroom redundancies, and the future of journalism.

In 2011, retired Federal Court judge Ray Finkelstein recognised Ricketson’s expertise by appointing him to assist in a national inquiry into the Australian news media and its regulation. One lasting outcome from the inquiry saw the ABC’s charter extended, by law, to include online activities.

Overall, Professor Ricketson has written 25 academic book chapters, 31 refereed journal articles, and six published refereed conference papers. He has also written or co-authored six non-fiction books and one journalistic biography.

He continues to contribute to the shaping of public policy on issues of public interest journalism and media regulation, as evidenced in two recent co-authored and high impact publications: Upheaval: Disrupted lives in journalism (UNSW Press, 2021) and Who Needs the ABC? Why taking it for granted is no longer an option (Scribe Publications).

Importantly, while Professor Ricketson never worked with A/Professor Anne Dunn, he spoke eloquently about their shared interests:

I remember hearing Anne’s own academic work at conferences, delivered in her mellifluous, ABC radio-trained voice. She would ask difficult questions about the state of public broadcasting in Australia and elsewhere even as her commitment to its importance remained steady as a heartbeat. I hope I continued to espouse all these values when I was asked to nominate for the journalism association’s presidency after her death in 2012. More recently and most explicitly, I felt the value of her commitment to public broadcasting when I co-authored a book Who Needs the ABC? that lamented a near decade of cuts and attacks by Coalition governments and argued for all of us to speak up for one of the nation’s most important cultural institutions.

2022 Scholar: Prof Libby Lester

The judges noted that Professor Lester, who spent 15 years as a journalist including as the Sunday Age’s first environmental reporter, has since produced an impressive body of scholarship in journalism and communication, with a critical environmental communication focus.

The judges also commended Dr Heather Anderson, from Griffith University, for her broadcast research and practice in the public interest with a strong social justice agenda and outcomes.

2021 Scholar: Dr Catriona Bonfiglioli
The judges said: Catriona has excelled in her transition to academia from journalism, starting with a Reuters medical journalism fellowship and building an impressive record of solo and collaborative publications. She has a strong track record in securing competitive grants, in international networking, and in health communications and media studies research for the public good. Importantly, during the pandemic she developed a guide for journalists reporting the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. In her outstanding commitment to media ethics education and ongoing industry linkages she clearly commemorates the aims and spirit of Anne Dunn’s work.

2020 Scholar: Dr Penny O’Donnell
Penny was the judges’ unanimous choice, from a strong field. The judging panel acknowledged her international research profile, sustained and impressive body of journalism research with public interest benefits, and the significance and impact of her scholarly work. They agreed Penny had movingly articulated how Anne’s aims and values had influenced her contribution to the field, and also recognised her commitment to journalism education.

2019 Scholar: Dr TJ Thomson, Queensland University of Technology
The judging panel reported that Dr Thomson’s submission showed high-quality publications and made an excellent case for impact and relevance in the spirit of the Anne Scholar of the Year Award.

2018 Scholar: Dr Caroline Fisher, University of Canberra
Dr Fisher was commended by the panel for her body of work as an early career researcher, which features a range of high-quality national and international publications. Her research highlights the connections between journalism and other communication forms, and aims to increase understanding about the changing relationship between these different forms.

2017 Scholar: Prof Geoff Craig, Auckland University of Technology
Professor Geoffrey Craig is head of research in the School of Communication Studies at Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand.

ANZCA president Phillip McIntyre said Geoffrey Craig had produced an impressive body of research. “Geoff Craig’s research analyses major institutions of public communication and he uses theory well. He has helped shape his corner of the field in the region. His work is innovative and his care for his topic, not to mention his engagement with the ABC and other institutions, shines through his application. His work aligns well with the research interests of Anne Dunn”.

JERAA president Matthew Ricketson said: “The judges for the Anne Dunn scholar award this year were pleased by the continuing development of the breadth and depth of the entries. This is not only a fitting tribute to the lasting influence of Anne Dunn but demonstrates advances made in scholarly work in the field of communication and journalism”.

Both presidents, who headed their associations’ judging panels, highly commended the work of Dr Stephen Harrington which they said was well theorised and, for his career point, showed an impressive track record. His research into alternative expressions of journalism is thought-provoking and his advocacy for it in popular as well as academic journals is to be welcomed.

2016 Scholar: Dr Emma Jane
ANZCA president Donald Matheson said Emma A. Jane had produced an impressive body of research investigating online misogyny and cyberhate since 2012. “She shows not only great scholarly energy, but also a commitment to harnessing that research for the public good.”

JERAA president Matthew Ricketson said: “The judges for the Anne Dunn scholar award this year welcomed the increase in the number of entries and were impressed by the quality of the strongest entries, which demonstrated sound scholarship and a refreshing originality of research topics.”

2015 Scholar: Assoc. Professor Mia Lindgren

Associate Professor Mia Lindgren is a globally recognised authority in podcast, radio and journalism studies with positions on several editorial boards and scientific committees. Her research examines podcast and audio practices, storytelling, and aesthetics, with attention to the intersection with journalism and health. Her interdisciplinary research has been funded by five national competitive grants (Australian Research Council and National Health and Medical Research Council). Mia Lindgren is one of a growing number of ‘pracademics’ in Australia and internationally and she has forged a career spanning both practice-based and traditional scholarship in media and communication studies, with focus on journalism, radio, and podcasting. Mia grew up in the north of Sweden. She has worked as a broadcast journalist with the Swedish Broadcasting Cooperating and radio documentary producer with ABC Radio National.

2014 Scholar: Dr Siobhan McHugh

Dr Siobhan McHugh won the inaugural Anne Dunn Award for her seminal research into the aesthetics of audio storytelling, including her founding of RadioDoc Review, the first journal of in-depth criticism of crafted audio storytelling and audio documentary formats.

McHugh established RadioDoc Review as a collaboration between industry and the academy, its board providing a unique range of perspectives on the rapidly evolving world of podcast and audio production. RadioDoc Review has published a substantial body of highly informed criticism, addressing audio works that range from internationally awarded shows to those by emerging voices from the Global South. In so doing, it has helped develop new language and concepts that deepen our understanding of the grammar, logic, poetry and craft that underpin narrative, journalistic and artistic audio works.

McHugh came to academia after an award-winning career as a radio producer and documentary-maker with the Irish public broadcaster, RTE, and the ABC. She founded RadioDoc Review nine months before the arrival of the hit true crime podcast Serial launched an explosion of interest in podcasting – she was on a panel with the co-producer of Serial at a major media summit in Barcelona in June 2015 as that unfolded.

She has since become a prominent scholar in podcast studies: her article, How Podcasting Changed the Audio Storytelling Genre (2016) is the most highly cited in The Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast and Audio Media. McHugh’s book, The Power of Podcasting: Telling Stories Through Sound (Columbia University Press 2022) is a set text at universities around the world. In 2025 it was included in the Harvard Nieman Storyboard selection of best books on storytelling alongside works by Toni Morrison and Stephen King. Her article, ‘The Narrative Podcast as Digital Literary Journalism: Conceptualizing S-Town’ won the John C Hartsock award for best article in the International Journal of Literary Journalism Studies (2022).

As a scholar-practitioner, McHugh has co-produced acclaimed narrative podcast series that have won prestigious global awards and had considerable social impact. They include three series with a team of journalists from The Age newspaper, Phoebe’s Fall (2016), Wrong Skin (2019) and The Last Voyage of the Pong Su. The Greatest Menace (2022), co-produced with Patrick Abboud and Simon Cunich, investigated a gay prison in Australia; it has won 17 awards, including a Walkley, and helped trigger an apology in the NSW State Parliament in 2024 to men incarcerated for being homosexual.

As a noted ‘pracademic’, McHugh undertakes podcast practice as applied academic research. Thus with ARC funding, McHugh collaborated with art historian Ian McLean and Margo Neale, former Senior Indigenous Curator at National Museum of Australia, to create an award-winning podcast, Heart of Artness (2018) as a non-traditional research outcome (NTRO) that explores cross-cultural aspects of contemporary Aboriginal art production. This journal article analyses the theory and practice behind it.

In the spirit of Anne Dunn, McHugh loves to share her passion for podcast journalism with students. In 2016, she launched what is believed to be the first full semester (13-week) subject on Podcasting and Audio Journalism at the University of Wollongong. Graduates now occupy significant audio roles at the ABC and commercial networks.

As Associate Professor of Journalism (Honorary) at University of Wollongong, and an honorary fellow at the University of Sydney (2021-2023) and Macquarie University (2024-2025), McHugh continues to deliver guest lectures to journalism and media students and to present at international conferences and industry gatherings. She enjoys mentoring academics and podcast professionals, contributes to academic scholarship via peer review and authored articles and is a sought after industry consultant for her expertise on narrative podcasts.

Background to the Award

The Anne Dunn Scholar Award is jointly sponsored by Anne’s mother and siblings, JERAA, and the Australia New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA), and honours Anne’s lifetime dedication to public service journalism.

This prestigious award is in memory of a remarkable broadcaster, journalism educator and media scholar, Associate Professor Anne Dunn. Anne was known for building bridges, whether between industry and the academy or across academic disciplines, for her mentoring of younger women making the adjustment from working in news media to academia and for her life-long commitment to public sector broadcasting.

The award, which includes a $3,000 prize, has run for five years and will continue until further notice. As Anne was a former President of ANZCA, and was President of JERAA at the time of her death, both associations felt it appropriate to honour her via a joint prize. Anne was widely respected for her broadcast experience and management skills, including responsibilities at the ABC and as acting Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Sydney. She was well known as a mentor of early career researchers, especially women making the transition from industry to academia, as she had done herself. The award explicitly aims to honour Anne’s commitment to critical research of high academic standard. It recognises excellence in research about the fields of communication and journalism, including but not limited to broadcast media for the public benefit. This reflects Anne’s passion for public service broadcasting, radio studies and media ethics, and her work in bridging journalism and media studies scholarship.

The winner of the Anne Dunn Scholar Award will be announced at the annual ANZCA Conference and will also be celebrated at the JERAA Conference.

Application guidelines for 2026:

Nominations and self-nominations are now being accepted for the 2026 Anne Dunn Scholar of the Year Award. To nominate yourself or a peer, please provide a 3- to 4-page application addressing the following criteria:

• Description of the nominee’s body of research about journalism, media, or communication for the public benefit (2 pages maximum)
• Demonstration of the impact of this body of research (1 page maximum)
• Statement about how the nominee builds bridges, whether between industry and the academy or across academic disciplines and/or mentors and invests in the next generation of scholars (half a page maximum)

Also attach a copy of the nominee’s current CV, containing all relevant publications, research grants and other awards, which will help the judging panel to evaluate the nominee’s body of work.

The 2026 Anne Dunn Scholar award will be judged cooperatively by representatives of the executive groups of the JERAA and AANZCA.  Nominations should be uploaded to this form by 1 August, 2026.

Please direct any questions to the JERAA Vice President (Research), Dr TJ Thomson (t.j.thomson@rmit.edu.au).