Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit has won the ‘Outstanding Investigative Reporting’ prize at the Kennedy Awards for Excellence in Journalism.
The award was accepted by executive producer Peter Charley at a ceremony in Sydney, Australia, recently.
The NRMA Kennedy Awards recognise the best journalism published in Australia and Al Jazeera was the only international broadcaster to be honoured, Al Jazeera said in a press statement.
The two-part documentary series, How to Sell a Massacre, revealed attempts by Australia’s populist party, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, to gain funding from the National Rifle Association of America and other pro-gun organisations in the US.
Australia has strict gun control laws, which were introduced following a mass shooting in 1996 when a gunman killed 35 people at a tourist site in Tasmania.
Al Jazeera’s investigation triggered front-page headlines in Australia and news coverage around the world. Material gathered during the investigation resulted in the resignation of a senate candidate who was also senior confidant of Hanson, the statement noted.
Acting director of Investigative Journalism, Phil Rees, described the award as “a great achievement that validates the Investigative Unit’s bold journalism”.
The investigation was also nominated in the ‘Scoop of the Year’ category and Charley was honoured with a ‘Journalist of the Year’ nomination.

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