Stories that have won through to the finals of the 54th Walkley Awards show the fast-changing nature of journalism in Australia.

Among the finalists in the new “Best Online Journalism” category are a moving interactive tribute to victims of the Black Saturday bushfires, a multimedia investigation of the mental heath services in suburban Melbourne and a harrowing account of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo combining text, slideshows and voiceovers.

Finalists in all general news categories were announced simultaneously at events in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne last night. Photographic and business finalists were announced at separate events earlier this week.

View finalists here.

In Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and America performers have standard contracts, which include minimum working conditions, and residuals on screen work. These contracts are negotiated between the performers’ unions such as British Equity and the Screen Actors’ Guild (SAG), and producers. These contracts give performers and agents certainty about the minimum expectations performers should have on any film, television or theatre job. Agents of course are free to negotiate terms which are better than the minimum negotiated between their union and producers. In New Zealand there are no such contracts. While there is a set of guidelines, known as “The Pink Book”, these are not binding on any producer and do not stand up to comparison with the minimum conditions performers receive in all other English speaking countries.

After the successful launch of the New Zealand Alliance Branch and Actors' Benevolent Fund last week, the new office in Ponsonby, Auckland is open for business and running full steam ahead. NZ industrial organiser Teresa Brown can be contacted by phone on (64) 9 360 1980 or email Teresa. Members are welcome to drop in to see Teresa at Unit G02, 29 Scanlan Street, Ponsonby, Auckland.