THIS International Women’s Day we’d like to celebrate one of our own, as Mansfield Courier journalist Hannah Kennelly navigates the fast-paced environment of a major metropolitan newsroom, swapping her desk at the Courier for a 12-week placement at The Age.
Open to journalists from regional Victoria, the William Buckland Foundation Fellowship is facilitated by the Walkely Foundation, with the objective to upskill journalists gaining hands-on experience supported by senior journalists at The Age.
It is a monumental achievement.
Six weeks into her placement, Hannah is thoroughly enjoying the experience, with the position allowing her to rotate through numerous departments from sports to culture and politics.
“Obviously one of the stand-outs, was a feature article on Kevin the black swan,” Hannah said with a laugh.
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“Swans generally mate for life, but he’s on his fourth partner now after a series of tragic events, with two of his previous lady loves being mauled by dogs.
“There’s a petition – more than 2500 signatures long – demanding more enforcement of the Reservoir park’s on-leash area to avoid this tragedy repeating itself.”
In more hard-hitting news Hannah has also tackled a comparison of AFL membership prices, investigated the death of the school canteen as volunteer numbers drop, and covered the journey of a pregnant Taylor Swift fan who went into labour mid-concert and stuck it out to the end, before heading to hospital to give birth shortly thereafter.
“The position requires that I also pitch numerous story ideas, and I do have to complete a dedicated project which will be an expansion on an article I originally wrote for the Courier on women in AFL,” she said.
Hannah joined the Courier in March of 2023, having made the move south from sunny Brisbane.
It was her second job in journalism, having previously worked at the Catholic Leader, but she quickly established herself as a professional and competent journalist with a knack for finding a great story, a gift with words and a voice for the airwaves.
“Six months before the end of my degree I began work at the Catholic Leader,” Hannah said of her journey prior to making the High Country home.
“It was shortly after COVID and metropolitan newsrooms didn’t have many available job vacancies and I was very keen to get that work experience.
“I thoroughly enjoyed my role at the Catholic Leader as the majority of topics were social justice oriented and I covered things like domestic violence, mental health and homelessness.
“I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to explore some of these topics in-depth, which your more mainstream newsroom may not have the time to pursue.
“It provided a great foundation, developing skills that I use today.”
Hannah has spent the time since leaving high school building up her skills portfolio.
In 2019, Hannah embarked on a double degree at the University of Queensland, combining a bachelor of journalism with a bachelor of arts majoring in psychology with a minor in French.
“The idea initially was that after the first year I would choose between the two which degree I wanted to pursue,” she said.
“But I ended up loving them both.”
And despite the increased workload, Hannah finished them both, all whilst working as a medical receptionist during the height of the pandemic and the vaccine roll-outs.
“I spent four years working in GP clinics and hospitals in administration, juggling my study commitments which went online in 2020,” she said.
“Though I found psychology to be surprisingly statistics-heavy - which I did struggle with - and French at tertiary level was challenging at times, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I’m very glad I did both degrees.
“I believe that good journalists ask good questions, but they also know when to listen.
“And that’s what a good psychologist does as well.
“I found the two disciplines – psychology and journalism – actually overlapped and complemented one another, and both have informed my practice going forward.
“Even those four awful years spent doing advanced statistics has proven handy as a journalist."
Hannah attributes part of her drive to work in journalism to a love of both reading and writing ever since she was little.
“I had to write a news report in grade five as an assignment,” said Hannah.
“It may have been article on recyclables – so nothing thrilling - but I did get a gold star, which might have fueled my passion.
“And there was also a poetry anthology at some point.
“I wrote a poem on vegetables that I recall was quite sensational.
“Maybe that was the definitive moment."
From penning an ode to the humble vegie in primary school to securing a commendation for best sports story at the Rural Press Club awards with an article on Shooting Australia’s funding crisis, to the heady heights of live blogging the Taylor Swift concert as The Age’s on-the-ground reporter, Hannah’s trajectory is on the ascendancy.
And with her star on the rise, hers is a name to look out for - Hannah Kennelly, news journalist.
