ABC drama and light entertainment series  carried off eight Awards in the television and documentary categories at the AUSTRALIAN FILM INSTITUTE AWARDS awards night.

MDA won three Awards, including Best Drama Series, Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Television Drama or Comedy (Shane Bourne) and Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Television Drama or Comedy (Angie Milliken). Grass Roots won two Awards, including Best Screenplay in Television (By Election episode) for Geoffrey Atherden, and Best Actor in a Supporting or Guest Role in a Television Drama for the late John Clayton (By Election). Enough Rope with Andrew Denton won the AFI for Best Light Entertainment Series, Out There collected the Award for Best Children's Television Drama and Wildness was awarded the AFI for Best Documentary.

Ted Robinson, producer of The Glass House, Good News Week and The Way We Were was presented with the Longford Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his major contribution to creating comedy programs on Australian television. The 45th AFI Awards were hosted by Tony Squires, at Her Majesty's' Theatre, Melbourne. The ceremony marked Tony's final appearance for ABC TV.

The ABC has won the bulk of the broadcast media awards at this year's excellence in journalism awards, the WALKLEYS.

Sydney ABC reporters, Michelle Brown and Nonee Walsh, have jointly won the Walkley award for excellence in radio news reporting. The pair won the award at the ceremony in Sydney for their coverage of the Waterfall train crash earlier this year.

The radio current affairs reporting award went to the ABC's Mark Willacy for his AM piece on the 'Fall of Saddam'. The TV current affairs reporting awards also went to the ABC. The 730 Report's David Hardaker and Deb Masters won the award for stories shorter than 20 minutes, while Jo Puccini and Debbie Whitmont from Four Corners took out the longer category.

The Walkley for best radio documentary went to Radio National's Sharon Davis and Nick Franklin.

Andrew Denton won the broadcast interviewing award for his work on the ABC's Enough Rope.

ABC correspondent Matt Peacock wins international award

In November ABC Correspondent Matt Peacock received a prestigious award from the Foreign Press Association in London. Matt won the award for 'Story of the year by a Foreign Journalist based in the UK' for his radio interview recorded with Tony Blair's Director of Communications, Alastair Campbell, the so-called 'Master of Spin' who subsequently became enveloped in the Hutton Inquiry into David Kelly's death.

It was recorded at the height of the war in Iraq, on board Mr Blair's jet as they travelled to Camp David to meet with President Bush. In the interview Campbell talked of the difficulty in promoting the war, particularly in the Muslim world, and what measures he had taken to do so. It was an unusual interview in that he had never before spoken about his job in this way; and it gave an interesting insight into the British effort to promote the war.

The interview was first played on PM; other parts of it were then used on Radio National on Media Report and Correspondents Report. It received worldwide coverage elsewhere, on wire services, and on the BBC, ITV, Sky and in most newspapers, including The Times, Telegraph, and the New York Times.

Matt Peacock is currently a reporter in London for the 7.30 Report on ABC TV.

ABC Online 26/11/03