Kelsall was recognised with the Max Fatchen Award for stories including stagnating efforts to cap pokies numbers amid a state government tax windfall as South Australians lost $770m in 12 months, and a feature on the impact of apartment developments on the city’s live music scene.

Judges at the ceremony on Saturday night said Kelsall’s body of work “demonstrated deep engagement with a wide variety of topics”.

“Thomas’ work was well researched, original and carried a wide variety of voices from all sides of the issues he was covering,” they said.

Kelsall follows in the footsteps of previous InDaily Best Young Journalist winners, Stephanie Richards and Bension Siebert.

“Thomas is a worthy winner who reflects and upholds high, independent journalism standards for himself, InDaily and Solstice Media,” said InDaily editor Dave Eccles.

Freelance journalist and filmmaker Daniel Clarke was named Journalist of the Year and also won Best Rural/Regional Journalist for a second year running for his entry, Legacy of Islanders we lost.

Daniel Clarke has been named Journalist of the Year at the 2023 SA Media Awards

Judges called Kangaroo Island-based Clarke’s entry “inspirational storytelling, cutting through the pain of adversity”.

“Daniel’s dual-winning entry to the SA Media Awards expertly explored complicated grief in a family bereaved by suicide, post-traumatic stress symptoms in the wake of the brutal Kangaroo Island bushfires, and processing loss through art,” they said.

“These are clear examples of personal experiences through journalism enabling a wider community to better cope with loss and mental anguish.

“The stories in this body of work are compassionate, sensitive and skilfully translate his community’s pains and triumphs for a national audience. His nuanced and unflinching account of one community member’s suicide was a particular triumph.”

Clarke has also made a feature documentary about a KI timber plantation saga which will premiere on Fox Docos in August.

Liz Walsh, editor of Solstice Media’s SALIFE magazine, won best Sports Report for “exceptional” articles on women’s football published by her previous employer The Advertiser.

“Her ability to craft compelling narratives, combined with her thorough research and attention to detail seamlessly weaved together compelling storytelling and expert analysis,” judges said.

“The judges unanimously acknowledged Liz as an outstanding contributor to the field of sports journalism.”

Walter Marsh won the Freelance Journalist category and also the tightly-contested Culture and Arts Report category for his stories on the Adelaide Festival, with judges also recognising finalist Thomas Kelsall for “the immense research and unique context … brought to his important piece” on the impact of city development on live music.

Freelance journalist Megan Spencer won the award for Best Radio/Audio Journalism, with freelance journalist Royce Kurmelovs winning for best Business, Economic or Finance Report.

The ABC’s Rory McLaren won in the Commentary, Analysis, Opinion and Critique category, while the ABC also took home four other awards.

Ethan Rix and Steve Opie won best News Reporting in the TV/Video Journalism category, Amelia Moseley won best Feature, Lincoln Rothall for Visual Storytelling and Nicholas Maher for Multimedia News or Feature.

The Advertiser took out a series of print awards, with Riley Walter winning in the News category, Lauren Novak recognised for best Feature, Michael McGuire for best Social Equity Report and Brad Crouch for Investigative Journalism.

Jessica Dempster won the Julie Duncan Memorial Award for Student Journalism, with Amelia Walters highly commended.

A full list of winners can be found here.