By Ned Stevens, Elsa Pritchard and Orlando Sagar
An eye-opening multimedia feature about human trafficking and fraudulent texts used to entrap workers has claimed the top prize at the 2026 Central News Media Prize.
The winning series of three stories entitles ‘Scam Factories’ by Ivan Francescini and Ling Li, published by The Conversation, tells the harrowing story of people who have been forced to work in phone scam facilities across Southeast Asia.
While The Conversation took home the trophy, the judges said it was a close race with impressive nominees like Matt Gazy and Jennifer Luu from The Feed for their series on the housing crisis, Cam Wilson from Crikey for his exclusive series detailing the links between the lobby group behind the social media ban and a gambling ad company, and ABC’s Laura Lavelle’s shocking investigation into sexual assaults in the Australian Defence Force.
Francescini and Li, along with The Conversation’s Digital Storytelling Team, produced an original multimedia feature that unveiled life inside forced labour facilities, including several interviews, detailed maps, and exclusive documents.
Although not present at the awards night, Victoria-based Francescini, a Chinese studies lecturer at University of Melbourne, told Central News he hoped the win would raise further awareness of the problem.
“This award belongs as much to the survivors who trusted us with their stories as it does to the reporting team,” he said.
“The scam factory industry is one of the largest humanitarian crises of our time, yet it remains poorly understood.
“I hope this recognition helps keep public attention where it is needed: on the hundreds of thousands of people still trapped in these compounds across Southeast Asia.”
Nominees stand with Media Prize hosts, from left to right, ABC’s Jennifer Luu, SBS’s Matt Gazy, Media Prize editors Ned Stevens and Chloe Kelly, The Conversation’s Drew Rooke and Sunanda Creagh, and Crikey’s Cam Wilson. Photo: Mia Boccalatte
The Media Prize, now in its third year, celebrates great journalism, from mainstream outlets, independents and citizen journalists, recognising their contribution to the public record.
This year’s nominees were lauded for their roles in documenting abuses of power in the highest reaches of the Australian government or simply explaining the world around us.
The Feed’s Matt Gazy said it was important to recognise outstanding journalism.
“A lot of journalism right now is the stuff that is rage bait and going in for really strong sensational headlines,” he said. “So in my eyes, great journalism is impartial.
“It’s hearing both sides of stories, it’s going a bit deeper, so I think it’s more important than ever with the amount of misinformation there is out there on the internet.”
Discussing the issues facing modern journalism, Gazy added: “We’re competing with more journalists than ever in terms of influencers, content creators, even citizen journalists, and a lot of them are doing amazing jobs, sometimes better than what the mainstream media can do.
“With the rise of TikTok and algorithms, it’s harder than ever to really cut through a lot of that noise.”
Aside from recognising outstanding journalism from recognised outlets, the Media Prize celebrated the accomplishments of UTS students, with prizes awarded by Cisco Corea and Monica Attard for Outstanding Performance in an Individual Subject, recognising the top students last year in each of the school’s 12 core subjects.
Best Social Media Package winner Halle Masters accepting her award from acting head of school Monica Attard. Photo: Mia Boccalatte
Central News editor Martin Newman also recognised the fantastic work published by this masthead in 2025, handing out pun-filled best practice awards.
Central News Media Prize Winner
Ivan Francescini & Ling Li (The Conversation) for “Scam Factories”
Nominees
Matt Gazy (The Feed SBS) for a series on TikTok about the housing crisis
Aaron Smith (Independent) for a collection of X posts about misinformation
Cameron Wilson (Crikey) for a series on the social media ban in Australia
Casey Briggs (ABC) for “Labor’s landslide victory obscures a disturbing trend for the major parties”
Main image of Sunanda Creagh from The Conversation accepted the award on behalf of the winners Ivan Francescini and Ling Li. Photo: Central News.
