Winners of this year’s Mindframe for Journalism Education categories at 2020 Ossie Awards announced
The Mindframe team congratulates winners of this year’s Ossie Awards in the Mindframe category, Hannah Fortune and Danielle Collis, presented at the Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia (JERAA) Conference today.
The awards program recognises the best work of student journalists in Australia. Each year, Mindframe presents two prizes for safe and responsible mental health and suicide prevention reporting to an undergraduate and postgraduate recipient.
Hannah Fortune (Swinburne University) and Danielle Collis (RMIT University) are the winners of the 2020 Mindframe undergraduate and postgraduate student prizes for their safe and recovery-oriented depictions of mental illness and suicidal behaviour.
Hannah Fortune’s ‘The good fight: tackling an invisible illness, one conversation at a time’ (published in The Standard) is a positive story of lived experience, sharing messages of hope and recovery. Hannah followed the Mindframe guidelines by discussing mental ill-health and suicidal behaviour in a safe and productive way. The discussion surrounding diagnosis and treatment was destigmatising, demonstrating that people experiencing mental health difficulties can lead meaningful lives and build successful relationships and careers. Hannah included positive imagery throughout the article and provided contact details for multiple support services.
Danielle Collis’ ‘Mental health apps and “gamification” of online support helping young Australians amid COVID-19’ (published on ABC News Online) provided personal stories of recovery using mental health apps. The stories of lived experience shared throughout showed how effective and accessible e-mental health services can be for young people. The piece balanced app information and expert advice well, and included positive imagery as well as details for support services.
Three additional student journalists were also highly commended for their articles’ close alignment with the Mindframe guidelines for mental health and suicide reporting:
- Caitlyn Watts (Curtin University) ‘Food for thought’
- Jackson Frantz (La Trobe University) ‘Demystifying men’s mental health’
- Dominique Hennequin (RMIT) ‘Healthcare workers struggling with mental wellbeing during pandemic’
Everymind Acting Program Manager, Sara Bartlett said the media play an important role in reducing the stigma around mental illness and encouraging people to seek help when they need it.
“It is more important than ever to ensure that journalists provide these positive and safe stories, showing how people can get through a difficult time or that it is possible to recover from or lead a contributing life with a mental illness,” Ms Bartlett said.
We know that media and journalism are important roles that can contribute to reducing mental ill-health and suicide rates in Australia when reported on safely.
“On behalf of the Mindframe team, I congratulate the prize winners and those whose work was highly commended. We also want to commend all of the students who submitted entries and who have made mental health and suicide prevention a focus in their work.”
To learn more information about the Ossie Awards and for the full details of the 2020 entries, visit the JERAA website.