Apply now for the Walkley Award for Best Freelance Journalist of the Year 2015
This MEAA Walkley Award recognises “the unique contribution that freelance journalists make across all media platforms to the future of the industry.”
Open to residents of either Australia or New Zealand.
The winner will receive $3,000 in prize money, a full pass to the Walkley’s Storyology Summit and two tickets to the Walkley Awards Gala Dinner.
Entries are now open.
Apply online: http://bit.ly/freelanceaward
Hey freelancers,
Don’t miss this fantastic session for Freelancers held by Flip Prior, who is Twitter Australia’s new Partnerships Manager – News & Government, thanks to the Australian Society of Authors.
Many of you will remember Flip as the former Partnerships Manager at the Walkley Foundation where she organised some great dos for us all.
Where and when?
Wednesday 4th February 2015
6pm to 8.30pm
The course will be held at:
ASA Office, Suite C1.06, 22-36 Mountain Street, Ultimo 2007
How to book
Australian Society of Authors (ASA) at https://www.asauthors.org/event/14713/twitter-for-freelancers.
Details: A workshop from Flip Prior – Twitter Australia’s Partnerships Manager, Government & News – on Twitter best practice for journalists. Flip will show you how to use Twitter’s free tools including photos, video and Vine, as well as demonstrate how to monitor breaking news using Tweetdeck and manage lists.
Cost: $15 including snacks and drinks.
Head on over to Rachel’s List to find the latest analysis from the 2014 Show Me The Money Survey.
More than 40 Aussie freelancers filled in the survey – and there’s great insights to be found.
(Do you agree with this comment on the future of freelance journalism:
The future….“Technology will overtake me and I will have to retrain/diversify/become a barista/prostitute.”?)
– check Rachel’s Blog for more details.
It’s on again … The Walkley Foundation’s annual journo gabfest has a full program of journo and writer festivities
*** It was fun! Join us for the next one, will be advertised here and on Freeline / AFW Network ***
*** Check the Storify Archive here: http://sfy.co/rWVT ***
Freelance journalists across Australia and abroad are warmly invited to join us from 8pm till 9pm, AEST on Tuesday May 27 2014 for the inaugural Australian Freelance Journalists Twitter Chat.
This week, we’ll be talking generally about freelance writing in Australia – challenges, opportunities and tips to make it work.
If you’ve got some relevant resources / links to share, we’d love to see them.
How to Join our twitter chat
If you haven’t done this before — welcome, have fun! The chat will be archived & posted here later.
We’ll use the Twitter Hashtag #ozfreelance and you can join us from your phone, tablet, laptop – anywhere.
From Twitter – type #ozfreelance in the search box to see what other participants are tweeting (or you can just click on the highlighted #ozfreelance hashtag in someone else’s tweet.)
At the top of your search – you’ll see “Results for #ozfreelance” – choose Save (option on the same line as ‘Results’ so that Twitter suggests this hashtag to you, saving you time as you tweet.
Just below the line ‘Results’ there’s two options – Top / All – select All to see everyone’s tweets.
Some Tweet Chat Conventions
* It’s ok (and at the beginning of a chat, very welcome) to introduce yourself – eg “Hi all, I’m Ralph, full time freelance journo for 3 years, ex-Treasurer, I write about super #ozfreelance” – always add the hashtag
* Feel free to pitch questions and comments directly to someone you see in the chat – if you are Q’ing or A’ing, just add the hashtag for each tweet eg “@ralphWillis Did you wear a disguise to get into this year’s Budget lockup? #ozfreeline”
* If you want to re-post a relevant tweet to the group and shorten it to include the hashtag – use MT at the beginning of the tweet (Modified Tweet)
* If you like someone else’s comment, ‘Favourite’ or ‘Retweet’ – retweeting will share that comment with your own Twitter followers (though retweeting an already hashtagged tweet in a busy Tweetchat might get annoying after a while)
* Warning: everyone will hate you if you use a tweet chat to promo your off-topic goods/services and they will hate your goods/services too. But if it’s actually relevant and might be useful, plug it once and move on.
Hashtags proposed earlier are:
#OzIndyJournoChat
#ozfreelance
#typeandgripe
#OZfreeline
… the vote came in at #ozfreelance
Comment below or to @franmolloy – see you online!
The Walkley Award for Best Freelance Journalist of the Year 2014 is presented by the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, with prize including $3,000 in prize money, a full pass to the Walkley’s Storyology Summit and two tickets to the Walkley Awards Gala Dinner.
Entries open Monday May 19, 2014, and close at 5.00pm, Monday June 16, 2014.
To qualify for the award, you must be an Australian citizen resident regularly engaged as a freelance journalist/photographer in any medium. Work submitted for entry must have been published, produced or broadcast in either Australia or New Zealand.
Entries are judged on a work or a body of work (up to five pieces) published or broadcast between June 4, 2013 and June 16, 2014. Judges consider resources available and effort expended as well as newsworthiness; research; writing; production; incisiveness; impact; public benefit; ethics; originality; innovation; and creative flair.
Three finalists will be announced on Monday June 30, 2014 and the winner announced on Thursday July 24, 2014 at an event in Sydney. All entrants will receive an invitation to attend the announcement.
Entry costs is free for MEAA and EPMU members, and $295 including GST for non-members.
Application forms should be completed online here, and a 200-word entry statement explaining your entry must be included with the submission:
http://walkleys.com/awards/freelancer-of-the-year/freelance-journalist-year-application/
All freelance journalists welcome to the ASA’s next event, a pre-Xmas gathering on Wed Dec 4, 6 -9 pm at ASA Offices,
Suite C1.06 22-36 Mountain St, Ultimo – $20 for the event, includes catering
See https://asauthors.org/event/11058/word-up for bookings and further details
How journos make the jump: A convivial, pre-Xmas catch-up and panel debate on the hows, whys, pitfalls and potentials of the wonderful world of books.
This informal event is for journalists, authors and anybody else interested in publishing and where we all go from here.
Open to ASA and non-ASA members.
Bookings essential due to catering requirements. Book online (link above) or call (02) 9211 1004.
Speakers:
Paul Ham – historian, journalist, former foreign correspondent for the UK’s The Sunday Times, and the author of 1914: The Year the World Ended, Sandakan, Hiroshima Nagasaki, Vietnam: The Australian War. He is also the founding director of the independent ebook publisher hampress.com, and a contributor to Kindle Single.
Lisa Forrest – author, TV and radio journalist, actor and Olympian. Since publishing her first YA novel Making the Most of It she has released four books, including Boycott (an account of the bitter controversies in the lead-up to the 1980 Olympic Games) and Inheritance, a fantasy novel for teenagers which came out earlier this year.
Kathy Bail – chief executive of UNSW Press, which releases around 50 new books a year, and the former editor of a series of national titles including The Bulletin, The Australian Financial Review Magazine, HQ and Rolling Stone. Her book DIY Feminism was published by Allen & Unwin.
Michael Visontay – journalist, radio commentator and author specializing in memoirs and ghost-writing. Titles so far include Ahn Do’s bestselling life story The Happiest Refugee, Undies to Equities: the Remarkable Life of Henri Aram and Old School: Nathan Hindmarsh. He also edits Australian Author magazine and Sydney University Alumni magazine.
Stephanie Dale – journalist and author who launched an imprint, Voyager Moon, to get her own books into print: the travel memoir My Pilgrim’s Heart and a novel, Hymn for the Wounded Man. Voyager Moon has since branched out as a creative consultancy providing workshops on topics such as self-publishing and self-promotion.
Helen O’Neill (Moderator) – journalist and author of four non-fiction books with four different publishers: Life without Limits: the David Pescud Story (Random House), Florence Broadhurst: Her Secret and Extraordinary Lives (HardieGrant), David Jones’ 175 Years (UNSW Press) and most recently A Singular Vision: Harry Seidler (HarperCollins).
UPDATE: A ‘storify’ collection of tweets & social media posts from this event available here
Straight from the Author’s Mouth
An informal event for Freeline members and other interested people will be held in Glebe, where members who have recently published or self-published will talk about what they did and how they did it.
Date: Thursday 13 June
Venue: Fireplace room, Toxteth Hotel, 345 Glebe Point Rd
Price: Free
Public transport: regular buses from George St City (431, 432, 433, 434) and from Randwick via Newtown (370), light rail from Central to Glebe
Parking: 1 and 2-hour free parking off Glebe Point Rd
Time: 7pm start
Food: A good range ($15-25) and Thursday is pot of mussels night – order & pay for your own food
Have you got a book in you that is crying out to be written? Got a finished manuscript but are wondering what to do next? Or are you simply curious about what it means to be an author?
Freeline – the Sydney freelancers network – is hosting a panel event covering all aspects of authoring and book writing on Thursday 13 June, 7pm, at the Toxteth Hotel in Glebe.
Join us for a fascinating discussion of the business of authoring, writing habits, pitching, self-publishing v traditional publishing, ebooks v print, ghostwriting, crowdsourcing, marketing/publicity and much more, with:
Organised by Pamela Hewitt, our panel will include:
Moderator / panellist: Bianca Nogrady : author of The End – The Human Experience of Death, and The Sixth Wave
Libby Harkness: aghostwriter and author of Looking For Lisa, Skin Deep and other titles
Keith Austin: editor and author of Grymm, and the SMH Good Pub Food Guides
Helen O’Neill: author of David Jones: 175 Years and (Walkley nominated) Florence Broadhurst: Her Secret and Extraordinary Lives
Persephone Nicholas: author of ‘Burned’
Mark Juddery: author of ‘Overrated’ and ‘Becoming a movie reviewer’
Should be a great night out!
The Alliance is launching its ‘professional grade’ membership which includes insurance and an accreditation based on attending Alliance legal and ethics training.
Malcolm Turner, Tracey Spicer and blogger Greg Jericho speaking.
RSVPs to go to marcus.strom@alliance.org.au
Happy Monday
On Tuesday, July 10, 2012 12:59:03 PM UTC+10, Keren wrote:
WINTER OF OUR MISSED CONTENT*
Anxious about sweeping changes to our mainstream media?
Worried about the endless procession of draconian contracts?
Freelance life getting you down?
Join other freelance journos for a drink or two on Thursday July 12 for no other reason than to gather and talk.
Where:
Upstairs room at The AB Hotel – 225 Glebe Point Rd (corner of Bridge Rd), Glebe
When: Thursday 12 July, from 6:30 pm
What: Talk, drink, eat. Buy your own drinks and meals and the hotel will bring up the orders.
How: Just turn up! There’s no need for RSVP as we’re not catering – but if you’d like to drop a line to the list if you’re coming, we’ll all get a feel for who will be there.
Thanks to the wonderful Pamela Hewitt for organising this.
* Plagiarised from Fran Molloy, who’ll be there too.
Freeline 