There was strong contention for places among the finalists this year, Sport Australia receiving more than 350 entries.

The Sport Australia Media Awards (#SportAUSMediaAwards) have been running since 2002 and are Australia’s only awards dedicated to recognising excellence in sports journalism, broadcasting, production and photography.

Finalists will be invited to a gala dinner in Sydney on Thursday, 13 February, 2020. The ceremony will also honour a new recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for sports journalism, last awarded to Dennis Cometti AM.

Best reporting of an issue in sport

• Shark Island Productions, ‘The Final Quarter’
• Jamie Pandaram, ‘Israel's holy war’, News Corp Australia
• Phil Lutton, Damian Ryan, ‘The Shayna Jack Doping Case’, Nine-Fairfax
• Triple M, ‘Concussion in the AFL - Paddy McCartin's story’
• Michael Carayannis, ‘The best there never was’, Daily Telegraph
• Samantha Lane, ‘Adam Goodes: My love for the game died inside me’, The Sydney Morning Herald & The Age

Best sport coverage by an individual – broadcast

• Brenton Speed, Fox Sports Australia
• Corbin Middlemas, ABC
• Gerard Whateley, SEN Radio and Fox Footy
• Tracey Holmes, ABC

Best sport coverage by an individual – written

• Jessica Halloran, News Corp Australia
• Konrad Marshall, Good Weekend
• Mark Robinson, The Herald Sun
• Phil Lutton, The Sydney Morning Herald
• Will Swanton, The Australian

Best sport coverage by an individual – digital

• Mary Konstantopoulos, Ladies Who League
• Samuel Ferris, Cricket Australia
• David Weiner, Optus Sport
• Jamie van Leeuwen, ESPN

Best coverage of a sporting event

• ABC, ‘Invictus Games Sydney 2018’
• Seven Network, ‘Cox Plate 2018’
• Optus Sport, ‘FIFA Women's World Cup 2019’
• The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, ‘The Ashes’

Best sport profile – broadcast

• Evan George and Jon Bullock, ‘Top Tier Towns’, Optus Sport
• Josh Cable, Marcus Cobbledick, ‘Collingwood: From the Inside Out’, Good Thing Productions
• Michael Chammas, ‘Benji Marshall: A long walk to 300 NRL games’, NRL.com
• On The Mark, ‘Travis Varcoe’, Fox Footy

Best sport profile – written

• Martin Smith, ‘Rebuilding Burt: How cricket changed a life’, cricket.com.au
• Nick Walshaw, ‘Braidon Burns’, Daily Telegraph
• Peter Badel, ‘Broncos at War’, The Courier Mail
• Samantha Lane, ‘Adam Goodes’, The Sydney Morning Herald & The Age
• Will Swanton, ‘Steph Gilmore’, The Australian

Best coverage of sport for people with disability

• ABC, ‘Invictus Games Sydney 2018’
• Amanda Smith, ‘Blind Tennis’, Sporty ABC Radio National
• Catherine Marciniak, ‘Leagueability’, ABC
• Matthew Carmichael, Seven Network

Best regional, rural and suburban sport coverage

• Anthony Pancia, ‘Coverage of the 2019 Margaret River Pro’, ABC
• Jennifer Browning, Jessie Davies ‘Saving the Coonamble Golf Club’, ABC Western Plains
• Michael Parris, ‘A male-only tennis club meets its match’, Newcastle Herald
• Stuart Walmsley, RUGBY.com.au

Best sports photography

• Darren England, ‘Kurtis Patterson classic catch’, Australian Associated Press
• Michael Willson, ‘The Kick’, AFL Photos
• Hamish Blair, ‘Emerging from the shadows’, Australian Associated Press
• Quinn Rooney, ‘Water Drops’, Getty Images

Best depiction of inclusive sport

• Joanna Lester, ‘Power Meri’, Media Stockade
• Reece Homfray, ‘The beating heart of Australian Rules’, The Advertiser
• Robert Drane, ‘African appearance’, NEXT Media
• The Outer Sanctum, ABC

Best contribution to sport via digital media

• Wide World of Sports, ‘The home of rugby league’, Nine Network
• The Age & The Sydney Morning Herald, ‘Sport explainers - deep dives into sport's mysteries'
• RUGBY.com.au
• The Herald Sun, ‘Sacked’

Best analysis of sport business

• Niall Seewang, ‘Inside Tasmania's push for an AFL team’, ESPN
• John Stensholt, The Australian
• Tracey Holmes, ‘The Global Swimming Wars’, The Ticket ABC
• The Business of Sport, Sky News

Previous winners of the Sport Australia Media Awards can be found here.