Slick by Royce Kurmelovs longlisted for the 2024 Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism

Join us in celebrating Royce Kurmelovs longlist nomination for the 2024 Walkley Book Award for his novel Slick.

The Walkley Awards, Australia’s pre-eminent national journalism awards, recognise and reward the best in the craft and set the industry standard for excellence.

Shona Martyn, CEO of the Walkley Foundation, said:

This has been an extraordinary year for news, both locally and internationally. The finalists in the 69th Walkley Awards reflect the fine work produced by Australian reporters, commentators, photographers, camera operators, cartoonists, podcasters, authors and documentary-makers on these matters of immense public interest. In every category, the quality of the finalists is high which made the first-round judging process challenging. My congratulations to the judges for taking part in this exhaustive process and to the finalists who will now be considered in the final round by the Walkley Judging Board, chaired by Sally Neighbour. It is an immense honour to be named as a Walkley finalist. Good luck to all who have made it to this point.

Slick is a riveting expose of the global oil industry’s multi-decade conspiracy to muddy the waters around the science of climate change and use the Australian government to undermine worldwide efforts to address environmental devastation.

Slick: Australia’s toxic relationship with Big Oil takes a comprehensive look at the origins of the Australian petroleum industry, investigating what these companies knew about climate change and how they learned to wield influence and insert themselves into all facets of public life. Royce Kurmelovs reveals how the US petroleum industry was warned about its environmental impacts back in the 1950s and yet went on to build the Australian oil industry, which in turn tried to drill the Great Barrier Reef, sought to strongarm governments, and joined a global effort to bury the science of climate change and delay action despite knowing the harms it would cause.

Slick also tells the stories of fire and flood survivors, as well as of the activists engaged in a high-stakes fight for the future of Australia and of the efforts being made to save ourselves from catastrophe.

This superb, in-depth work of journalism provides an on-the-ground examination of how the fossil fuel industry captured Australia, and outlines what’s at stake for the survival of the planet and our democracy.

The Walkley book award shortlist will be announced on the 31st of October. The winners will then be announced at a gala dinner at the ICC in Sydney on Tuesday 19 November.

Congratulations again to Royce!