For immediate
release:
16 June 2003 Media statement
2003 Wallace Awards Announced
Two well-known political commentators, Associate Professor Nigel Roberts and Dr Tim Bale of the School of History,
Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations at Victoria University, have been given a Wallace Award by the
Electoral Commission for an article published in the July 2002 issue of Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics
that looked at the apparent loss of confidence in politicians and the link with moves towards electoral reform.
The award is among six announced today by the Electoral Commission.
The award for the best paper or thesis by a tertiary student went to Marcus Ganley of Wellington for an LLB (Hons)
research paper, Making Unicameral Parliaments Work: The New Zealand Exception? prepared last year for Victoria
University’s Law Faculty. The paper outlined the impact of MMP on the role of Parliament’s select committees.
A Highly Commended certificate was given to Karl W Kane of Wellington for his last year’s honours thesis for Massey
University’s School of Design. The thesis was a proposal for an advertising campaign to encourage first time electors to
vote.
The new media award for journalism went to the website on the Internet specially created by the New Zealand Herald for
the 2002 general election. The online feature eventually grew to 140 resource pages and provided voters with information
about the electoral process, coverage of the election campaign and encouraged public participation.
Mark Torley, a senior parliamentary reporter for Radio New Zealand News, was given the journalism electronic media award
for a documentary programme broadcast in May 2002 on National Radio explaining the importance of the Party Vote and how
party list candidates were selected and ranked by the major political parties.
The print award for journalism went to Jan Schrader, editor of Independent Newspapers Ltd’s Newspapers in Education team
in Wellington, for a well-designed “Outlook” series for students following last year’s general election.
The annual awards are named after the agency’s inaugural President, Sir John Wallace QC, who also chaired the 1985—86
Royal Commission on the Electoral System.
ENDS