'Slick' shortlisted for the 2024 Walkley Book Award
The Walkley Foundation today announced the shortlist for the Walkley Book Award, part of Australia’s most prestigious journalism accolades, the Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism.
We are thrilled to announce that Royce Kurmelovs has been shortlisted for his bookSlick: Australia's toxic relationship with Big Oil.
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 celebrates Australian writers who take enduring subjects from news, eyewitness accounts, investigations and history. Their books bring readers immersive detail, clear analysis and new revelations.
Books entered this year ranged from true crime, politics and war to social issues, biography and investigative journalism. From these, nine books were longlisted in October, and of this selection, three have been shortlisted as finalists.
The winner of the 2024 Walkley Book Award will be announced as part of the 69th Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism on 19 November, 2024.
Congratulations to Royce!
