@biancanogrady @keira_reckons What's even more damning than the Ampol sponsorship is who the awards are named after — William Walkley.

Who was he?

The founder of the awards. And also Ampol.

No, really: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Walkley

It's quite literally an award set up by an oil tycoon to award journalists he liked, managed by a philanthropic foundation he set up with his petro-dollars.

It gets even worse...

"A statement from the Walkley Foundation, 2 September, 2023

"The Walkley Foundation has condemned and expressed deep regret for racist views expressed by the founder of its major awards Sir William Gaston Walkley in a newspaper column in 1961.

“His views do not reflect the values, views and ethics of the Walkley Foundation. We apologise for the deep hurt and offence these statements will have caused for journalists and the broader community,” the board of directors said in a statement today.

“As an ethical organisation, we must call out the mistakes of the past.”

Oh dear.

https://www.walkleys.com/the-origin-of-australias-most-prestigious-journalism-awards/

So why the apology?

"In April 1961, Walkley wrote a column for The Sydney Morning Herald as part of a series where prominent businessmen were asked to answer the question: What would you do if you were the ruler of Australia?”

The answer of one of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the nation was basically to advocate keeping the White Australia policy.

Here's an actual quote from William: "Today Australians are but a drop of white in a sea of colour that teems with more than 1,200 million land-hungry Asiatics."

Source: https://www.watoday.com.au/national/the-racist-past-of-the-oil-baron-who-set-up-australia-s-top-journalism-award-20230901-p5e18i.html

So there you have it.

A national prize awarded to journos at News Corp, Nine, Seven, and the ABC. Founded and named after a white supremacist oil tycoon and sponsored by Ampol.

In a strange way, it's fitting.