On a winning streak
The Courier walked away with more than a third of the accolades on offer at a Statewide media awards night over the weekend, including the prestigious Excellence in Journalism award.
The Country Press SA 2025 Awards were held in Adelaide on Friday night, recognising excellence in regional press across 18 award categories.
Journalist Fin Dunford claimed the Excellence in Journalism award for his four-page coverage exploring the history and impact of Mt Barker’s rezoning, 15 years on from the controversial decision.
Sports editor Jeff Pistola won the award for Best Sports Story for his coverage of Mylor resident Ned Tucker’s pursuit of a career in the ancient sport of Muay Thai fighting.
The summer 2025 edition of the Hills Wanderer magazine was recognised as the best special publication, while the 2025 Christmas feature was recognised as the best advertising feature.
The Courier also won the best advertisement priced product, best front page and best house ad categories.
The Courier also placed second in the best news photo category and third in editorial writing.
The Excellence in Journalism award was judged by author and former senior manager at The Advertiser Kym Tilbrook, who said the 19 entries in that category in 2025 were of a “very high standard”.
He described Mr Dunford’s work as “well-researched” and “very thorough”.
“Fin worked over many weeks gathering information from a wide range of sources, including stakeholders, health professionals, peak health bodies and local Regional Development,” he said.
“His very thorough reporting reveals many failures and, importantly, future needs as Mt Barker continues its rapid growth.”
Best Sports Story judge Paul Mitchell said Mr Pistola’s story was an “engaging account ... packed full of information that would interest most people completely unfamiliar with the sport – and the culture”.
“The narrative was expertly structured, resulting in the reader maintaining interest throughout,” he said.
The Yorke Peninsula Country Times won the award for best newspaper.
