The annual awards, held at The Australian Golf Club, were judged by former AAP chief golf writer, John Coomber, The Age editor, Alex Lavelle, and Daily Telegraph editor, Ben English.

Writer Michael Jones collected the magazine’s first award for his feature article, ‘A Star Is Born’, about Gabi Ruffels after she won the US Women’s Amateur title in August.

“This was a very close-run category, but Michael’s elegant turn of phrase on Gabi Ruffels’s win in the US Amateur makes him a deserving winner,” Coomber said.

Golf Australia’s Architecture Editor, Mike Clayton, was awarded the trophy for Best Opinion Piece for his insightful article, Brown is Good, discussing the merits of playing on dry, brown grass instead of lush green. Fellow columnist, Brendan Moloney, was commended by the judges for his article on the closure of Melbourne’s Elsternwick public course.

“Again, this was a very tightly contested category,” Coomber said. “We all know that Mike Clayton is never short of an opinion, and the judges agreed that his thought-provoking piece on why we should embrace brown grass on golf courses made him the winner.”

Clayton also received the inaugural Peter Thomson Quill, a peer nominated and voted award, for career excellence and named after the patron of the Australian Golf Media Association.

Golf Australia columnist and podcast presenter Rod Morri collected the award for Best Aural Presentation for his Thing About Golf podcast interview with Barnbougle owner, Richard Sattler.

‘If you haven’t listened to Rod Morri’s podcast interview with Barnbougle founder Richard Sattler, we suggest you do,” Coomber said. “It’s a remarkable story, and, in Rod’s capable hands, Richard proves a brilliant and very funny interview subject.”

Morri was also recognised for all his work – written and aural –throughout 2019, in receiving The Tom Ramsey Memorial trophy recognising excellence.

Other awards winners were: Martin Blake (The Age, Best Short Form story); Charles Happell (Golf Vic magazine, Best Long Form story); Daniel Pockett (Golf Vic magazine, Best Photograph); Justin Falconer (Golf Australia organisation, Best Visual Presentation).