Category: Awards

CityMag took home the coveted national award for Magazine Cover of the Year at Mumbrella’s Publish Awards last night. Check out the cover featuring some of Adelaide’s best-known faces and the story about its creation.

CityMag’s lead graphic designer Jayde Vandborg after accepting the Magazine Cover of the Year award.

CityMag‘s 2025 Festival edition magazine cover, published in February, took home the national gong at the award show in Sydney last night, beating finalists including Better Homes & Gardens magazine and publications from Woolworths and Coles .

The judges praised the originality of the food truck line-up concept for the magazine cover including its striking design and inspiring creativity drawing in well-known Adelaide identities, saying it was brilliantly executed.

A two-day photo shoot saw more than 50 well-known South Australians ranging from the festival favourite Gang Gang food truck owners, music producer Motez to new Environment Minister Lucy Hood and the Lord Mayor involved in the project.

“Noting that for a free independent magazine, it delivered a collectors edition that captured festival season and showcased the talent of the team,” they said.

Lead graphic designer Jayde Vandborg said she was grateful for the recognition on the national stage.

“I’m really proud of CityMag and the mammoth effort that went into making this edition,” she says.

“It’s not just a win for me as the designer or for the team who made it happen, but for our incredible arts and culture community in Adelaide, who are featured on the cover.

“Being hyperlocal, CityMag is all about the best of Adelaide and the people that are doing cool, interesting and amazing things in our city and this cover encompasses the best of what goes on here.”

To make the cover, Jayde started with a story of a queue for a festival-time food truck so comically long that it weaves in and out of view on the page, indicating that the food must be extremely good if the wait is ridiculously long.

The food truck in question was festival favourite Gang Gang, featuring co-owners Nina and Morgen Wynn-Hadinata. The shot of the duo sitting on their food truck starts the queue, and was pictured by photographer Jack Fenby, linking to a feature story in the magazine where Gang Gang took on CityMag‘s Chef vs Public BBQ challenge.

Watch how we made it

For the queue, over two days, Jayde and journalist Helen Karakulak invited talent that featured in the magazine and some of Adelaide’s best-known characters to have their pictures taken.

Jayde photographed and directed the shoot, getting the best out of the talent by encouraging them to have fun first and foremost – festival season is all about being bold, entertaining and creative, and that’s what Jayde brought to life on the page.

Notable faces on the cover include Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith, newly-minted environment minister and member for Adelaide Lucy Hood, award-winning sexologist Jamie Bucirde, award-winning cabaret performer Millicent Sarre and Penny University’s Foti Likouras.

After the bumper photoshoot, Jayde expertly cut each image to create the layout reminiscent of waiting in line for a food truck, as much of Adelaide does during festival season.

“It was designed to be bright, eye-catching, and easily spotted from a great distance and among the chaos of crowds in fringe venues and from the reception we got once it hit streets, it’s safe to say we met our brief,” Jayde says.

InDaily journalist Charlie Gilchrist won the Political Report Award at the South Australian media industry’s night of nights.

InDaily journalist Charlie Gilchrist won the Political Report Award at the 2025 SA Media Awards. Photo: Claudia Dichiera/InDaily

A comprehensive report into the University of Adelaide’s overturned 2024 student union elections was awarded the Political Report Award at the 2025 South Australian Media Awards last night.

InDaily journalist Charlie Gilchrist took out the prestigious trophy for his story, which revealed allegations of misconduct during the election process.

This included revelations that students took other students’ phones and voted on their behalf without their consent during the election, and that a group breached election rules through unauthorised campaigning.

The judges said Gilchrist’s entry “showed tenacity and endeavour in exposing corrupt activities in student union elections at Adelaide University”.

“He dealt with a Chinese student political element which was hellbent on rigging results and exposed the unsavoury practices for what they were,” the judges said.

“Reporting of this standard deserves to be awarded with the 2025 MEAA award for Best Political Report.”

Gilchrist said he was “very excited and honoured to win the 2025 Political Report Award at the SA Media Awards”.

“With the fragile state of democracy in the world at the moment, the role of journalists to shine a light on wrongdoing is as important as ever,” he said.

“I want to thank my brother for suggesting this story and Solstice Media for having the confidence in me to tell it.”

He was one of 18 winners last night at the SA Media Awards, hosted by the journalists’ union, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance.

Gilchrist was joined on the night by other Solstice Media finalists, Claudia Dichiera and Zoe Rice.

Dichiera was a finalist for her business reporting on the fall of Adelaide’s hospitality industry for sister publication CityMag. Rice was a finalist in the best feature category for SALIFE Magazine’s insight into the Power of Song.

Other winners included Nine’s Ben Avery who was crowned 2025 Journalist of the Year, and the ABC’s Eva Blandis who was named Best Young Journalist.

The awards celebrate the achievements of journalists, photographers and media professionals over the past year and attracted 14 per cent more entries in 2025 compared to last year.

Full list of 2025 winners

Text Formats – News, proudly sponsored by Adelaide University
Sean Fewster, Gemma Jones & Kathryn Bermingham, The Advertiser, ‘On the Nose – the David Speirs Video’

Text Formats – Feature, proudly sponsored by Adelaide University
Che Chorley, Lincoln Rothall & Daniel Keane, ABC, ‘Surface Tension’

Television/Video Journalism – Feature
Ben Hyde, Ruicheng Liang, Neely Karimi & Steve Grice, The Advertiser, ‘While I Was Sleeping’

Radio/Audio Journalism – Feature, proudly sponsored by ABC
Ben Avery, Nine Network, ‘Just Married: The Anthea Bradshaw Mystery’

Radio/Audio Journalism – News Reporting, proudly sponsored by Media Super
Briana Fiore, ABC, ‘Losing Ashleigh – Asthma in SA’

Visual Storytelling, proudly sponsored by Media Super
Bill Ormonde, ABC, ‘Out of the Darkness’

Multimedia News or Feature, proudly sponsored by Media Super
Nicholas Maher, ABC, ‘International Law & Democracy Explained’

Best Rural/Regional Journalist
Bill Ormonde, ABC, ‘Body of Work’

Business, Economics or Finance Report
Luke Williams and Emma Brasier, The Advertiser, ‘Millions Missing: The Cost of No Accountability in Davenport’

Culture and Arts Report
Jack Evans, ABC, ‘BTN High – Class of Cabaret’

Freelance Journalist, proudly sponsored by Media Super
Megan Spencer, Freelance for Virtual War Memorial Australia, ‘Bringing His Spirit Home: Private Arthur Thomas Walker, Ngarrindjeri ANZAC’

Investigative Journalism, proudly sponsored by ABC
Brad Crouch, The Advertiser, ‘The Secret ICAC Tapes’

Political Report
Charlie Gilchrist, InDaily, ‘University of Adelaide Student Elections Overturned’

Social Equity Report, proudly sponsored by SACOSS
Stephanie Richards, ABC, ‘Uncovering SA’s Baby Removal Practices’

Sports Report
Ian Henschke, freelance screened by Run Nation Film Festival, ‘The Golden Mile’

Julie Duncan Memorial Award for Student Journalism, proudly sponsored by Adelaide University
Rachel Forbes

(Highly Commended: Kate Kinnear)

The Max Fatchen Award for Best Young Journalist, proudly sponsored by SA Unions
Eva Blandis, ABC, ‘Body of Work’

Journalist of the Year, proudly sponsored by Adelaide University
Ben Avery, Nine Network

At the Press Club’s ceremony on Friday night, Jemma Chapman won the gold award for her exclusive InDaily stories about the neglect of a patient in a government-run Adelaide care facility.

Her series of reports on the case ended with an independent inquiry finding “serious failings” with the man’s care and an analysis of how the state government’s response raised concerns about its ability to recognise and fix disability care issues.

Chapman’s reporting on the case also won the award for Best Investigative Coverage of an issue or event in any medium, with the ABC’s Rory McLaren highly commended and the ABC’s Isabel Dayman and Nine’s Ben Avery also commended.

Chapman’s exclusive story also saw her named joint winner of Best News Report in print or digital, along with News Corp’s Nigel Hunt who was recognised for ‘Gang wars – Operation Meld’.

InDaily’s Simon Royal won Best Feature in print or digital for ‘Named, shamed, interrogated while dying: The women the law put last’, a special report about South Australia’s pre-law reform backyard abortions, written in the wake of the US Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade.

InDaily’s Michael Errey won Best Sports Photograph for his great shot of Port Adelaide’s Mitch Georgiades taking a screamer against Geelong.

CityMag, published by InDaily owner Solstice Media, was also recognised in the awards.

CityMag editor Johnny von Einem was commended in Best Feature category for ‘Workers call out hospo industry’s sexual assault problem’, with News Corp’s Michael McGuire highly commended, while von Einem was also commended for ‘Pitching at the edge’ in the Best Finance or Business report in any medium, won by the ABC’s Eric Tlozek.

CityMag’s Angela Skujins and von Einem, along with Solstice Podcasting and Solstice editorial director David Washington, were highly commended in the Best News Feature, Podcast of Long Form radio report for their Notes on Adelaide podcast: The weight of Wangayarta, about the historic burial of 130 Old People’s remains at a purpose-built Kaurna memorial site in Adelaide’s north, with ABC Radio Adelaide taking out the category.

InDaily editor Dave Eccles said it was Solstice Media’s most successful awards night so far.

“It’s gratifying to see our original, public interest journalism recognised by media industry peers,” he said.

“Our small but committed team spends the time to dig up and shine a light on stories that matter, exploring and exposing issues that authorities would prefer we didn’t.

“Our journalism and its impact shows again why it’s important for South Australia to have an alternative, independent media voice outside of, and prepared to question, the status quo.”

The ABC’s Isabel Dayman won Best Long Form Television Report for a story about ambulance ramping, with the ABC’s Meagan Dillon commended.

News Corp’s Riley Walter won Best Scoop of the Year in any medium, with Nigel Hunt highly commended and Meagan Dillon commended.

Riley was also named joint Young Journalist of the Year, along with the ABC’s Bec Whetham.

Anisha Pillarisetty took out UniSA’s Student Journalism Award, with Lauren Wisgard runner-up, while veteran broadcaster Keith Conlon was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Chapman recently left InDaily to take up a job with the State Government as a media adviser.

A full list of SA Press Club 2022 awards can be found here.

Read this story on InDaily.