On a night where manyHerald andThe Age journalists and photographers were recognised,McKenzie was honoured for his landmark investigative reporting of a and in Afghanistan.
![Nick McKenzie](https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_300%2C$height_150/t_crop_auto/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto/fa0e4ae49c3082b2122aee4ecfb4283696d23b43)
Nick McKenzieNine
His portfolio of three unrelated stories -"The Faceless man","Crown Unmasked"and"One Last Mission"- set him apart from a strong field in one of the biggest news years in history.
McKenzie,with colleagues Grace Tobin and Nick Toscano,took out two other major awards – Outstanding TV Current Affairs and Outstanding Finance Reporting – for"Crown Unmasked".
TheHerald’s Kate McClymont and Jacqueline Maley won the award for Outstanding Investigative Reporting for their story on sexual harassment allegations against former justice Dyson Heydon.
Herald Chief Photographer Nick Moir won the award for Outstanding News Photo and Dallas Kilponen was awarded The Power Of The Lens People’s Choice Award,while James Brickwood received the award for Outstanding Portrait.
Journalists Michael Ruffles and Michael Evans took out the award for Outstanding Court Reporting,while Peter Hannam was honoured for Outstanding Reporting on the Environment.
Kennedy Foundation chairman Rocco Fazzari said more than 100 nominees were judged from a near record field of entries.
Mr Fazzari said the deserving winners had come out ahead in an absolutely fiercely competitive news year.
"In a bumper news year the standard of submissions was exceptional in every category. As has been the case in the past,it took judges long hours to finally sort out the winners from absolutely talented fields,"he said.
The awards are named after the Herald's legendary crime reporter Les Kennedy,who died in 2011.
Get our Morning&Evening Edition newsletters