Regional Australia's most outstanding journalism has been celebrated at the 2025 ACM Excellence Awards, with The Canberra Times named masthead of the year.
Queensland Country Life won best agricultural publication in its 90th year and the Goulburn Post took best community title.
The awards recognise the best news and sport coverage, commentary and commercial content produced by the websites and newspapers of the ACM network, Australia's largest independent publisher of regional news.
Journalist Tim Piccione of The Canberra Times was presented with the top individual honour, the Gold ACME for Journalist of the Year, for his body of work over 2025, including an investigation into policing in the ACT.
Crime reporter Anna Falkenmire of the Newcastle Herald was named Young Journalist of the Year and Emily Clooney of The Advocate in north-west Tasmania was named Sports Journalist of the Year.
ACM editorial director Rod Quinn congratulated this year's winners.
"In these days of robots and fakery, our journalists put themselves in places where our readers cannot go," he said.
"They bear witness to the triumphs and the tragedies, the happiness and the heartbreak, and they convey those moments to our audiences.
“Our communities are better for it. What our journalists do is not optional in a democracy. And it is more important now than ever."
Presented in Sydney on Tuesday, December 9, the awards are now in their fifth year.
The judges said Piccione's quiet persistence helped The Canberra Times set the daily news agenda in the national capital.
Falkenmire's crime coverage for the Newcastle Herald was praised for compassionate, human-centred storytelling giving a voice to victims of crime.
Managing editor John-Paul Moloney accepted the Regional Masthead of the Year trophy on behalf of The Canberra Times, which also won Campaign of the Year for its exclusive series on Transurban's Sydney toll errors stinging unsuspecting ACT drivers.
Queensland Country Life, one of ACM's specialist weekly titles serving Australia's important rural and farm sector, was named Best Agricultural Masthead of 2025.
Celebrating its 90th year of publishing this year, Queensland Country Life was represented at the awards by former editor Lucy Kinbacher and acting editor Sally Gall.
Editor Sally Foy, who oversees the Goulburn Post on the NSW Southern Tablelands, accepted the award for Best Community Masthead, and also won Commentary of the Year for her own writing.
Dane Wilson, of Dubbo's Daily Liberal, was named Trainee of the Year and Kim Chappell, who guides online publishing of local news coverage as regional digital editor, was named Coach/Mentor of the Year.
The Border Mail, which covers the Albury/Wodonga region on the NSW-Victorian border, was recognised for its rolling coverage of a hospital rally led by local mayors and health advocates that travelled by train to state parliament in Melbourne.
The newsrooms of The Advocate in north-west Tasmania and The Standard in Warrnambool were also recognised for their efforts this year to serve their communities and grow digital subscriptions.
Journalists Ben Silvester and Anna Houlahan were praised for their outstanding travel writing and video coverage for the ACM network's popular Explore website and Saturday print magazine.
ACM titles collectively reach more than 5.2 million people each month.
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