Eleven new Australian journalism projects will share in just over $180,000 of funding support, thanks to the new Walkley Solutions Journalism Fund.
Among the successful recipients is OUTinPerth journalist and editor Graeme Watson who will create an ongoing project exploring the next stage of Australia’s response to HIV and explore questions about society’s attitudes to talking about sex and effective sex education.
The fund was launched in 2024, offering up to $30,000 each for projects or stories that focus on the solution to a problem, rather than the traditional approach of, ‘if it bleeds, it leads’.
Solutions journalism involves stories about how people are trying to solve widely shared problems, using the same editorial rigour and independence as traditional hard news reporting.
From 42 projects that applied to the fund, eleven have been selected. The other individual journalist recipients are Nina Funnell, Liz Keen, and Annamarie Reyes from New South, alongside Grace Jennings Edquist and Dellaram Vreeland from Victoria.
Five organisations have also been selected for funding, they are Star Mail, Women’s Agenda, Illawarra Flame, The Centralian Today, and Indigenous Business Review. The projects are set to tackle everything from youth crime, building resilience for fires, preventative health and tacking gender funding gaps.
The Chief Executive of the Walkley Foundation, Shona Martyn, said it was exciting to see the huge range of the projects that will get off the ground around Australia, thanks to this fund.
“This is a positive project in a time of negativity, misinformation and disinformation. The fund allows stories that might not otherwise proceed due to lack of resources to go ahead. Stories that accentuate the positive and look at solutions to problems will reach news audiences as a result.”
Graeme Watson, who alongside writing at OUTinPerth also contributes to a range of publications, radio stations and television broadcasts, shared his excitement about the funding announcement.
“At a time when long form journalism is becoming harder to sustain and fund, the scheme from The Walkey Foundation opens up an opportunity to vital, serious, and essential conversations for Australians.
“I can’t wait to get started on tackling that big question of what the pathway to reaching the 2030 goal of virtually no transmissions of HIV in Australia and look forward to the journey we can take together.”
