December 2002 Volume 83 Number 12 "serving the protectors"
Police Journal wins best publication award
By John Ballantyne

The Police Journal has won a prestigious South Australian award for Best Union Publication or Communication.

The award was presented to the journal’s parent body, the Police Association of South Australia (PASA), by the United Trades & Labor Council (UTLC) of SA at a dinner held at the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel on October 18.

Present at the dinner were Police Journal editor and PASA secretary, Andy Dunn, the journal’s associate editor and manager, Brett Williams, and members of the association committee.

SA’s Police Journal is not only Australia’s oldest, but is also unique in not being produced by a private publisher. For the last five years, it has been entirely owned, run and published by PASA.

During this period, the journal has gone from strength to strength, enjoying both a consistently high popularity rating with its principal audience, and a rapidly growing readership through its online edition.

Andy Dunn, commenting on the UTLC award, attributed the journal’s success to its professional appearance, its commitment to fair and unbiased reporting, and its wide range of articles designed to cater to its entire readership.

Dunn particularly singled out Brett Williams’ investigative journalism as one of the journal’s chief strengths.

Williams – a former police officer who was appointed the journal’s full-time manager in 1997 – has written widely on many aspects of police life.

He has also become known for his fearless approach to controversial stories, particularly those which tell of injustice to police.

Some of his articles have been reprinted in the Adelaide Sunday Mail, and at least two of his features have prompted the ABC’s Australian Story programme to approach SA police officers with a view to making documentaries inspired by these stories.

Over the last year, his features have included a profile of SA’s legendary Major Crime investigator, the recently retired Detective Senior Constable Chris “Chambo” Chamberlain, and Constable Matt Stephens, one of the world’s highest ranked Iron Man triathletes.

In an acceptance speech at the awards ceremony, Williams paid a personal tribute to PASA members.

He said: “Without their stories, we simply would not have a Police Journal – or not one of the quality we have today, anyway.

“The stories they give us are stories of injustice, stories of courage, stories of achievement, and they are stories that, for our members, can often be very hard to tell.

“Telling these stories can involve the exposure of a lot of raw emotion for many of them.”

The Police Journal’s audience now extends well beyond just serving and retired SA police officers.

Since the association’s recent move to have the journal mailed directly to officers’ homes, police families themselves have now joined its growing readership.

In addition, the journal is distributed to members of parliament, city councils, media outlets, advertisers and various subscribers.

And now, thanks to its online edition on the internet, it reaches an unprecedentedly greater audience. In August alone the Police Journal Online recorded 48,230 hits.

Each year, through the sale of advertising space, the journal maintains the highest quality and is entirely self-financing. It is distributed to its readership at no cost.

The journal is not produced for profit, and any surplus funds are ploughed back into PASA or go to charity.

During the past two years, the journal has donated $5,155 to the Spinal Research Fund of Australia, and $5,000 to the Sunday Mail Blanket Appeal.

At the UTLC award ceremony, Brett Williams thanked the journal’s sales team, graphic designer and administrative staff for their contribution.

He said: “The journal, I can tell you, is entirely a team effort and would not be the award-winning publication that it is without quality input from all my team.”

He thanked the UTLC for the award, saying, “It means a lot to us at the Police Association and we certainly appreciate the recognition of the many hours of hard work that go into producing the Police Journal.

“Much of that hard work often goes unseen, so we really do appreciate the recognition.”

PASAweb   Index & Search   Top of Page   Comments   Email to Editor

The Police Journal Online is an official publication of the Police Association of South Australia and is published monthly. Editors of kindred publications can seek permission from the Editor to re-publish any Police Journal Online article. Copyright 2001  The Police Association of South Australia sustance