AusBT wins prestigious aviation media award

Australian Business Traveller was among the winners at this year's Australia and New Zealand Aviation Media Awards, which recognise the best works in aviation journalism throughout 2012.

The awards are chosen by judges from the National Aviation Press Club – a panel which this year included The Australian aviation editor Steve Creedy and Geoff Thomas, Aviation Editor of The West Australian and  Executive Editor at Airline Review International – and were announced at an exclusive industry event held in Sydney on Friday, November 30th.

Australian Business Traveller editor David Flynn took home the trophy for Online Contribution of the Year, a field in which AusBT journalist John Walton was also nominated.

Our winning story was Qantas' in-flight wireless iPad system in action, with other AusBT reports on Thai Airways Airbus A380 business class, Virgin Atlantic's new Upper Class Dream Suite and Inside Lufthansa's Boeing 747-8 also on the starting grid.

Andrew Cleary, aviation editor for The Australian Financial Review, was awarded Aviation Journalist of the Year, along with Aviation News Story of 2012 for his "Qantas forges Emirates tie" scoop and analysis.

Seth Jaworski, from Australian Aviation and also well-known on Airliners.net, was recognised as Photographer of the Year.

Australian Aviation scored three more awards: Michael Gisick for "A second Sydney Airport? One more time with feeling" picked up Aviation Feature of the Year; “Maturing teens: bridging the fighter generation gap” by Andrew McLaughlin  as Aviation Defence Story of the Year; while Australian Aviation managing editor Gerard Frawley won gold in the Aviation Technical Story of the Year category with “Home again. The repairs and return of Qantas A380 VH-OQA Nancy-Bird Walton”.

Australian Business Traveller editor David Flynn was in Hong Kong on the night of the the awards dinner but tweeted to say he was "Very chuffed to see AusBT among such sterling company."

And we mean it: the finalists and winners of these awards are the crème de la crème of aviation journalism in Australia and New Zealand, and to be counted among their number is both a significant honour and substantial recognition for AusBT :)

David Flynn

David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.