51茶馆

November 23, 2022

‘Horrifying’ podcast with humour and heart takes out Walkley Award, Australian Podcast Awards

The Greatest Menace, co-produced by UOW’s Professor Siobhan McHugh, spotlights Australia’s history of homophobia

A podcast co-produced by the 51茶馆鈥檚 (UOW) Honorary Associate Professor Siobhan McHugh that explores a 鈥榞ay prison鈥� experiment has been recognised at the 67^th Walkley Awards, announced in Sydney last week (17 November).

, an eight-part original series, took out the Walkley Award for Best Radio/Audio Feature.

Produced over three years by journalists Patrick Abboud and Simon Cunich, The Greatest Menace examines a tiny Australian town with a dark secret 鈥� that it was once home to the world鈥檚 only 鈥済ay prison鈥�. The podcast also explores Patrick鈥檚 personal story of coming out as a gay man in a homophobic Arab-Australian culture.

An internationally recognised expert in podcasting, Professor McHugh was the Consulting Producer on The Greatest Menace.

Professor McHugh said the team were delighted to have such an important and groundbreaking piece of work celebrated at Australia鈥檚 most prestigious journalism awards.

鈥淚 am incredibly proud of The Greatest Menace, and of the team who brought this horrifying story to life. It is a story of profound darkness but Patrick infuses it with such humour and heart. It is a story that must be told.

鈥淐ollaboration is fundamental to this type of project, and it was a real team effort to bring the story of The Greatest Menace into the light. I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to work alongside investigative journalists and producers of this calibre.鈥�

On Monday (21 November), The Greatest Menace took out a suite of awards at the , held in Sydney. It received Gold in the categories of Best True Crime Podcast and The Creativity Award, as well as Silver for Best Documentary Podcast and Bronze for Best History Podcast.

The Greatest Menace was also recognised earlier this year, at the New York Radio Festival, where it won Gold.

It was Professor McHugh鈥檚 seventh gold award at the New York Radio Festival; in previous years, she has been recognised for , , , , and , among other projects.

Professor McHugh is a veteran audio journalist and storyteller, former lecturer in UOW鈥檚 School of the Arts, English and Media, and academic, who has published extensively on audio storytelling and podcasting. Her book, , was published earlier this year. 

Supported by The Walkley Foundation, the annual Walkley Awards reward excellence, independence, innovation and originality in storytelling and distinctive reporting in Australian journalism. They exist to recognise 鈥渃reative and courageous acts of journalism that seek out the truth and give new insight to an issue鈥�.