Statement on the Lowy Institute Media Lecture

The Lowy Institute Media Award recognises excellence in Australian foreign affairs journalism.

Each year a distinguished panel of judges gives this Award to an Australian journalist who has deepened the knowledge or shaped the discussion of international policy issues in Australia. It has been a tradition of the Media Award dinner to invite a prominent individual to deliver a lecture on the theme of international journalism.

Earlier this month we announced that this Media Lecture would now be known as the Mark Colvin Lecture. The late ABC journalist Mark Colvin was a great practitioner and supporter of foreign affairs journalism and a regular attendee of the Media Award dinner. Mark had many friends and admirers at the Lowy Institute, and we wanted to pay him a lasting compliment.

We would not have named this lecture after Mark without the strong support of Mark’s family as well as his executors. However, we have now been advised by Mark’s family that they have reconsidered their decision and no longer wish that Mark’s name be associated with this lecture series. We will, of course, respect their wish. Therefore we will no longer be referring to the Media Lecture as the Mark Colvin Lecture.

The 2017 Media Award and Media Lecture will continue. In coming weeks the judges will meet to decide a winner. The prize will be awarded at a dinner at NSW Parliament House on 23 September. As previously announced, the 2017 Lowy Institute Media Lecture will be delivered at this dinner by Bret Stephens of The New York Times. Bret is one of the world’s leading foreign affairs columnists whose work for The Wall Street Journal won him a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. He has powerful and important things to say about the role of the media in the age of President Trump, as he demonstrated in his acclaimed Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture. We are honoured to be hosting Bret.

We look forward to a memorable evening that celebrates excellence in Australian media coverage of the world.