Australia's first community journalism conference coming to Gippsland

28 September 2004

Australia's first community journalism conference will be held on 19 - 20 November 2004 at the Monash University Gippsland Campus.

The conference, "Communicating the Community: The Role of Community Journalism" will include an award ceremony, provide interaction between regional and community newspaper staff and consider opportunities to improve newspaper skills.

Conference convenor and head of journalism at Monash, Ms Elizabeth Hart said community journalism was playing an ever-increasing role in community development across Australia.

"This conference will acknowledge the important role of the grassroots media, particularly community newspapers, in community life, and it will also provide those working in community journalism with the abilities to improve the quality of their work and make their newspapers sustainable and more successful," she said.

The conference will begin with an awards dinner held on site at the Gippsland campus on the evening of Friday, 19 November. Sponsors' awards will be presented to community newspapers that exhibit high quality journalism and an active engagement with their local communities. On Saturday, 20 November, the conference program will include: lectures, workshops, forums and panel presentations. Melissa Fyfe, award winning environment writer for the Age, will be keynote speaker. Ms Fyfe, who is originally from rural Tasmania, has had tremendous success as a journalist while maintaining her support for regional Australia. Her five-part series on East Gippsland won her a United Nations Award.

This state-wide conference will appeal to people working in community newspapers and those interested in the fields of community journalism, communications and community development.

For more information contact, Justin Kohlman, Manager, Marketing & Public Affairs, Monash University Gippsland Campus on +61 3 5122 6214.