From agenda-setting reporting and hard-hitting headlines to being home to the State’s best young journalists and photographers — Seven West Media’s exceptional journalism has again been recognised with a raft of nominations in the WA Media Awards.
The West Australian’s state political editor, Josh Zimmerman, was shortlisted for best health or medical report and best news report for his series of stories exposing alleged failures at Joondalup Health Campus.
They included reports on the tragic death of toddler Sandipan Dhar from blood cancer, which came two days after his parents first visited the hospital with a referral for a blood test that could have saved his life.
![Gabrielle Becerra Mellet](https://timesofsydney.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/e7430a123c191829c7dcaf15165b75dcea94878b.jpg)
![Rachel Fenner](https://timesofsydney.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/9277f9a2037190bfa64eb62df64394544f3c0e9e.jpg)
He also exposed how staff refused to believe a 10-year-old girl had been bitten by a deadly tiger snake and an expectant mum who was left unmonitored for hours after being induced — only for her baby to die inside her womb by the time she was finally checked.
Caitlyn Rintoul’s report detailing Police Commissioner Col Blanch’s admission there was a “boy’s club culture” in the police after a woman allegedly sexually assaulted by a cop wrote to him calling for better training is also shortlisted in the best news story category.
Each of the three finalists in the best new journalist or cadet award is employed by Seven West Media’s PerthNow papers: Jessica Evensen, Harriet Flinn, and Erick Lopez.
In the suburban news story or feature category, both Gabrielle Becerra Mellet and Rachel Fenner are up for the top gong.
Photographers Kelsey Reid, Andrew Ritchie, and Daniel Wilkins are each finalists in the best news photograph category. Wilkins was also shortlisted in the feature photograph or photographic essay category, and Ritchie was shortlisted for best community or regional photograph.
![Staff profile - Jay Hanna](https://timesofsydney.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/4528a0469b73789879fc46b0942f72f863a3381f.jpg)
![PLAY. Staff Headshot. Play Editor Belle Taylor.
Head Shot. Portrait. Studio. Picture Jackson Flindell The West Australian](https://timesofsydney.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/1235693559e14c869eb584b5dc42d252325a389e.jpg)
![Reporter Sarah Crawford. 31 JANUARY 2020 Picture: Danella Bevis The West Australian](https://timesofsydney.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/add273a2a5a53e7af3bd714495e8b528d03051ef.jpg)
Meanwhile, The West’s Jay Hanna has been shortlisted for best columnist for her thought-provoking pieces on domestic violence and sexual assault, and Belle Taylor is in the category for the most outstanding culture and arts report for her report Flewnt in Full Flow.
The Kimberley Echo’s Sarah Crawford is a finalist for best business, economics or finance report for her stories on Urban Rampage, a remote store chain accused of ripping off welfare recipients through Centrepay.
John Flint is a finalist for his series of reports exposing both the State and Federal Government’s downplaying of COVID-19 as an ongoing threat to public health.
Michael Palmer, David Friedlos, and Paul Barry have each been shortlisted for the best headline, while Jade Jurewicz’s feature story in STM on how Marite Norris brought colour back into her world after losing her children Mo, Evie and Otis in MH17.
Natalie Bonjolo, Melenie Ambrose, Michelle Bunting, Alexander Smith and Josh Cable have been nominated for best video feature for the documentary Vanishing Cousins.
![Staff profile - John Flint](https://timesofsydney.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/097d15978786ec633fd93e8e387d8819c426c14e.jpg)