Meet the Storyology news team
Six students will be bringing you all the news from Storyology 2018 in Brisbane — here’s your chance to get to know them.
Each year we create a pop-up newsroom and give a handful of student reporters the run of Storyology. We encourage them to pester attendees, let their festival curiosity run wild and pitch story ideas.
We make them work in multiple media and integrate with social, just like in a real newsroom. We give them tough deadlines — sometimes they’re covering breaking news for the first time in their careers. And we team them up with award-winning journalists as editors, who pore over line edits with them and let them in on the secrets of the craft.
The work they do is a central part of how we communicate what’s happening at Storyology to the outside world, so our standards are high! And, consistently, we’ve found they rise to the challenge.
This year we’re delighted to have Griffith University backing the Storyology Student News Desk, with four bright young reporters and another two from UQ. They’ll be ably edited by Walkley-winning journalist Nance Haxton and Audrey Courty. Check them out!
Georgia Costi (Griffith University)
Georgia Costi is a third year Journalism and Business student at Griffith University on the Gold Coast. Her minor and major is Marketing and Islam/West Relations respectively, and her goal is to one day work for Al Jazeera, focusing on conflict and investigative reporting as a television journalist, making a real difference in the world.
Stories from Georgia: Cartoons give journalism more punch
Zoe Coleman (UQ)
Zoe Coleman is currently interning at the ABC, filing for television, radio and digital after being successful in UQ’s pitching competition with Peter Greste. Zoe is always on the lookout for the next story has a passion for the community and journalism’s ability to create real social change. She has experience with various charities providing support and creating promotional content .Zoe is currently studying a dual degree in Journalism and Communications and in the future hopes to continue reporting for the ABC or work in crisis communications overseas.
Stories from Zoe: The forensic and compassionate art of true crime podcasts
New faces, same old methods
Kate Cullen (UQ)
Kate Cullen is a Journalism and Communications graduate from the University of Queensland. During her time at UQ, she endeavoured to get as much industry experience as possible, contributing to the Brisbane Times Woodford Folk Festival blog and interning at Network 10, 4ZZZ, Channel Nine, Cole Lawson Communications and KD Public Relations. In 2017, Kate travelled to Jaipur, India with UQ and the New Colombo Plan. There she gained experience as a foreign correspondent investigating Penal Code 377 of the Indian Constitution. In the short week she spent in Jaipur, Kate produced a three-part podcast, Pride of India. Hailing from the town of Dalby and moving to the big city of Brisbane has given Kate a unique view of Queensland. Her experience of rural and metropolitan life has moulded her passion for stories on climate change, mining, politics, farming and LGBT issues.
Stories from Kate: The books that changed their lives
Storyology spotlight: Cathie Schnitzerling
Lauren Martin (Griffith University)
Lauren Martin is a journalism student at Griffith University with a passion for international affairs. She hopes to use journalism to assist others through advocacy. At fifteen, she worked with Quest Newspapers, where she published local news stories — an experience which ignited her interest in the industry. At the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, she worked in the table tennis press centre as a flash quote reporter (she’s now quite a table tennis expert). With a strong advocacy and community focus, she volunteers every year at the Brisbane Lifeline Bookfest. She hopes to build a better relationship between charitable organisations and the media. In her spare time, Lauren is a netball umpire and player.
Stories from Lauren: The Big Merger: A critical perspective
Level up! Women ascending the Australian mediascape
Real-life and fiction intertwine for Trent Dalton
Courtney Moane (Griffith)
The opportunity to work with industry professionals and obtain as much experience as possible, is a definite draw-card for second-year student Courtney Moane.
“To be surrounded by so many professional journalists and other university students who are thriving just like me will be a fantastic experience,” she said.
“I’m still not entirely sure whether I want to get into print, television or radio journalism yet but I would love to be on TV one-day reporting on foreign affairs.”
Stories from Courtney: What story would you die for?
Logan Walker (Griffith University)
Logan is a passionate writer and consumer of news. He is currently studying a Bachelor of Journalism at Griffith University and hopes to become a full-time journalist after graduation. Logan is most interested in sport and politics, but reads many other areas of news as well. He enjoys travel and hopes to visit the Pacific Islands later in the year to learn about environmental issues such as global warming. Taking as many opportunities as possible to hone his craft and achieve his career goals, this year he was lucky enough to work as a Flash Quote Reporter at the Commonwealth Games, where he interviewed athletes and collected quotes for use in the media. In his spare time, he enjoys listening to podcasts and playing sport –notably basketball. Logan is originally from Launceston, Tasmania but now lives on the Gold Coast where he studies full time. He is always interested in chatting and meeting new people, and prides himself on being approachable and easy to talk to.
Stories from Logan: The Big Merger: What does it mean for Australian Media?
Clickbait, paywalls and the future of journalism
Meet the editors:
Nance Haxton is a Walkley Award-winning journalist with a passion for justice. In June 2018 Nance was awarded a silver and a bronze trophy in the New York Festivals International Radio Program Awards for her ABC Radio documentary exposing what many describe as Australia’s secret slave trade, blackbirding. She is now researching her PhD including a podcast project on blackbirding through Griffith University. Nance’s Walkley Award for Best Radio News and Current Affairs Reporting in 2012 recognised her series of investigative reports, “Justice System Fails Disabled Victims of Sexual Abuse”. Nance was also a finalist in the Walkleys’ Best Radio Feature category for the radio documentary she produced from this investigative series.
Nance started her career as a cadet at Quest Newspapers in Brisbane, going on to become the ABC’s sole reporter at Port Augusta. During her stint in the outback, Nance won the Walkley Award for Best Radio News Story in 2001 for her coverage of riots at the Woomera Detention Centre.
Nance graduated from the Queensland University of Technology in 2001 with a Masters in Journalism. After a year in the Sydney ABC Radio Newsroom, Nance became the South Australian correspondent for ABC Radio Current Affairs, reporting to AM, PM and The World Today for ten years from Adelaide and then Brisbane. After 19 years at the ABC Nance now works as a freelance journalist, educator and has been a Griffith University journalist in residence. Twitter: @NanceHaxton
Audrey Courty is an early career researcher, journalist and digital data geek. She is currently a lecturer in Islam, Media and Conflict at Griffith University. She is also undertaking a Doctor of Philosophy, researching the link between right-wing populist parties, transnationalism and digital media. Her prior research investigated the extent to which Western media is complicit in replicating Islamic State propaganda and is due to be published this year. She loves playing with big data and big ideas.
Follow all the updates from the Storyology Student News Desk right here on Medium.
