After winning Best New Journalist at the 2012 awards, Emma has now won the Suburban category ” Best 3 News Features Print/Online ” for her entry Grim Reaping, covering the Perth Hills horticulture industry.
The series of stories was about the prospect of fruit growers in the Hills area losing their livelihoods through damage by fruit flies.
‘Emma showed a dogged commitment to covering the difficulties of local growers who knew they had to transition away from chemical use, but felt abandoned by government and industry bodies in the process,’ the judges said.
‘Emma’s stories might not seem sexy but they were of great importance to her local area and she covered them well.’
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Over the past two years, Emma has written more than 30 reports on the issue for the Comment News and sister papers the Midland/Kalamunda Reporter and Hills Gazette.
Comment News photographer Marcelo Palacios was also a finalist in the suburban photography category but was pipped at the post by fellow Community Newspaper Group photographer Jon Hewson.