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ANNUAL
REPORT
For the year ended
31 December 2016
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MELBOURNE PRESS CLUB
Contents

President’s Report 2016 Page 3

Treasurer’s Report 2016 Page 4

Events Calendar 2016 Page 5

Board 2016 Page 6

Quill Awards 2016 Page 7-8

MPC Sponsors 2016 Page 9

Financial Report 2016 Page 10

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MELBOURNE PRESS CLUB
President’s Report 2016

2016 proved to be another extremely successful year in the life of the Melbourne Press Club.

With a mission of promoting excellence in Victorian journalism, we staged a number of high-

profile speaking events and our annual Quill awards continue to go from strength to strength.

Speakers including Communications Minister Mitch Fifield, Senator Derryn Hinch, Victorian
Treasurer Tim Pallas and Monash University Vice-Chancellor Margaret Gardner generated
huge interest.

In a special coup, we recruited John Cleese to speak at a members-only cocktail event,

where he memorably held forth on the state of UK journalism.

The Quill awards not only produced a swag of worthy winners but, once again, provided a
rare opportunity for Victoria’s media professionals to gather in a relaxed social setting.

Fairfax business journalist Adele Ferguson took out the Gold Quill and was named the
Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year. Veteran Herald Sun football writer Mike
Sheahan took out the Lifetime Achievement award, while ABC/Fox Footy sports commentator
Gerard Whateley was named the inugural Harry Gordon Australian Sports Journalist of the
Year.

The Press Club stepped up its engagement with younger journalists through ‘The Edit’, a
series of evening events where senior journalists spoke about their craft and how they chased
down the big stories.

I wish to thank the club’s generous sponsors for their continued support and in particular
welcome aboard Australia Post and the TAC as major Press Club sponsors.

I would also like to thank our CEO, Mark Baker, and the hard-working team at the MPC office
for another year of amazing achievement behind the scenes.

I thank all of my fellow board members for their efforts during another busy year. I continue to
value your experience and tremendous insights on some of the issues were discuss.

Finally, a big thank you to all MPC members for your continued support. It is greatly
appreciated.

Michael Rowland

MPC President
Melbourne Press Club
24 July 2017
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MELBOURNE PRESS CLUB
Treasurer’s Report 2016

The Club continued to improve its financial position in 2016. We were pleased to welcome
two new major sponsors in Australia Post and the TAC, and achieved an increase in overall
sponsorship.

As our president has reported our events program was once again very successful. 2017 has
started well and we are looking forward to taking the Australian Media Hall of Fame to the
next level with our Sydney event scheduled for later this year.

Please refer to the financial statements for full details of the year's results. As stated in
previous years the Club remains fortunate that it has no significant ongoing financial
commitments other than salaries, event venue deposits, and office expenses, but ongoing
viability continues to depend on securing sufficient sponsorship to meet these commitments.
We again received very pleasing ongoing support from our continuing sponsors, and in
particular are grateful to our joint principal sponsors Monash University and Virgin Australia.

The value of annual sponsorship income rose to over $400,000 during financial 2015/16.
Due to the Club reporting on a calendar year basis we have reported a loss in the 2015
calendar year of $21,049, but notably our cash position at calendar year end had improved by
nearly $25,000 compared with 12 months earlier. The Club's current financial position is
strong with reasonable cash reserves, and significant sponsorship payments pending.

Club activity remained at a high level in 2016 with a total of 22 events staged. Attendances at
these events totalled close to 2400.

The highlights of financial performance included:

• Membership revenue increased to $35,531;

• Revenue from functions declined again from $187,617 to $152,964 – reflective of the
continuing increase in media lunches, which run on lower revenue but also lower risk.
Overall the functions have continued to run essentially at a break even level so this
component of our performance is neutral in its impact on performance.

Our secretariat continued to perform well and as always my thanks go to Mark Baker and his
team for their ongoing support.

We have continued to observe the procedures required by our auditors to ensure that
accounting and association standards are met. I would like to thank our auditors, Pitcher
Partners, for their efficient and timely service again this year.

David Poulton
Treasurer
Melbourne Press Club
25 July 2017
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MELBOURNE PRESS CLUB
Events Calendar 2016

CORPORATE LUNCHES MEDIA LUNCHES OTHER EVENTS

January 2016 Jan 28 – Digital Invaders lunch Jan 18 – The Edit with Leigh
(87 people) Sales
(38 people)
February Feb 17 - Melbourne Herald Lunch
(82 people)
March Mar 30 – Mitch Fifield lunch Mar 17 – Cleese cocktails
(93 people) (127 people)

Mar 18 – Quills Dinner

(573 people)

April Apr 28 – Post state budget lunch Apr 14 – Post-Quills lunch – Apr 21 – Hall of Fame war
with Treasurer. Whistleblowers correspondents event at SLV
With VECCI (100 people)
(320 people) Apr 28 – MEAA Women in
Media launch

May May 9 – Anna Nemtsova lunch May 23 – The Edit with Adele
(69 people) Ferguson
(36 people)

June June 1 – Lunch with Prof. Peter

Doherty/Sharon Lewin
(63 people)

June 8 – Lunch with Monash VC

Margaret Gardner
(97 people)

July July 20 – Schuler book launch with July 25 – The Edit with Paul
Les Carlyon Farrell
(102 people) (23 people)

August August 5 – Lunch with Derryn Hinch

(97 people)

August 9 – Lunch with Gerard Ryle –

ICIJ (Storyology)
(82 people)

August 17 – Lunch with Kim Williams

(81 people)

September Sep 7 – Bob Rose Lecture Sept 5 – The Edit PTSD panel
RACV Club (supported) (25 people)

October Oct 27 – Mal Walden, 60 Years of TV

(71 people)

November Nov 14 The Edit: Sly and Rule

(32 people)

December December 2 – Lunch with Madeline Dec 7 – New Hall of Fame

Di Nonno – Gender equity in media galleries launch
(89 people) (85 people)
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MELBOURNE PRESS CLUB
Board 2016

President: Michael Rowland, ABC

CEO:
Vice Presidents: Eileen Berry, The Eileen Berry Trust
Philip Chubb, Monash University

Treasurer: David Poulton, Minter Ellison

Secretary: Richard Leder, Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Executive: Mark Baker, CEO

Kate Handley, General Manager
David Fisher, Assistant Manager
Jenny Denton, Digital Producer

Board:
David Broadbent, Broadbent Media
Rob Curtain, Communications Specialist
Nicole Denton, 3AW
Matt Cram, 3AW (Acting Board member for Nicole
Denton: Appointed April 2016)
Adele Ferguson, The Age
Olivia Hill-Douglas, Media Consultant
Bob Kearsley, Business Essentials
Jonathan Kearsley, Nine News
Ashlynne McGhee, ABC
Pat O’Beirne, Six O’Clock Advisory
Isabelle Oderberg, Australian Red Cross
Mike Osborne, Australian Associated Press
Simon Pristel, Seven Network
Justin Quill, M+K Lawyers
Nick Richardson, News Corp
Tom Salom, News Corp
Veronica Scott, Minter Ellison
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MELBOURNE PRESS CLUB
Quill Awards Honour Roll 2016
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The Monash University Gold Quill

Andy Burns & Lousie Milligan | ABC 7.30

The Graham Perkin Award for the Australian Journalist of the Year
Caro Meldrum-Hanna| ABC Four Corners

Lifetime Achievement Award

Niki Savva

Harry Gordon Australian Sports Journalist of the Year Award

Caroline Wilson | The Age

Victorian Government Quill for Reporting on Disability Issues

Beau Donnelly | The Age

Young Journalist of the Year Award

Bridget Judd | ABC

RACV Transport Quill

Matthew Johnston & Alex White| Herald Sun

Grant Hattam Quill Award for Investigative Journalism in any Medium

Ben Schneiders, Royce Miller & Nick Toscano| The Age

Keith Dunstan Quill for Best Columnist/Blogger

Tim Colebatch | Inside Story Magazine

Sports News
Michael Gleeson | theage.com.au

Sports Feature
Emma Quayle| The Age

Business News
Adele Ferguson, Klaus Toft & Mario Christodoulou | The Age

Business Feature
Ben Butler | The Weekend Australian Magazine

Camera Work
John Parsons | Nine News

News Photograph
Jake Nowakowski | Sunday Herald Sun

Sports Photograph
Alex Coppel | Herald Sun

Features Photograph
Jason Edwards | Herald Sun

Artwork
Andrew Dyson | The Age



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Breaking News Coverage
Bianna Travers | Sunday Herald Sun

Coverage of an Issue or Event

Louise Milligan & Andy Burns | Herald Sun

Cartoon
Mark Knight | Herald Sun

Innovation in Journalism
Soren Frederiksen, Conal Hanna & Craig Dixon | Fairfax Media

Suburban or Regional Journalism
Melissa Cunningham | The Courier, Ballarat

TAC Towards Zero Quill for Road Safety Reporting
Melissa Cunningham | The Courier, Ballarat

TV / Video News
Brendan Donohoe | Seven News

TV / Video Feature (Long Form)
Adele Ferguson, Klaus Toft, Mario Christodoulou | ABC Four Corners

TV / Video Feature (Short Form)

Nick McKenzie & Gus Goswell | ABC 7.30

Radio News
Seb Costello | Triple M Hot Breakfast

Radio Current Affairs

Richard Baker & Michael Bachelard, theage.com.au

News Report in Writing

Tom Minear & James Campbell | Herald Sun

Feature Writing
Margaret Simons | The Monthly
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MELBOURNE PRESS CLUB
Sponsors to December 2016
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MELBOURNE PRESS CLUB

Financial Report 2016
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