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Hall Greenland

Biographical Notes from The Walkley Awards website 2007

Print - Three Headings - Winner

Hall Greenland, The Bulletin, "Naturals"

"Beware Greeks bearing rifts"
"The Right on the hill"
"Beyond reasonable drought"

Hall Greenland started his career in journalism at The Digger in the 1970s. These days he works as a subeditor and journalist at The Bulletin, where he believes headlines should have something of the literary (or literate) about them to honour the magazine's traditions.

With this selection, Greenland paid homage to the maxim that the best headlines write themselves. "Beyond reasonable drought" complemented Malcolm Turnbull's explanation of the Federal Government's water policy as a response to both drought and climate change.

A story about violent divisions among immigrant Greeks following the Athens coup in 1967 gave rise to a head recalling the fabled Trojan horse, while Chris Hammer's report on the ALP national conference drew on Labor mythology, specifically Ben Chifley's "light on the hill".

This is Greenland's second Walkley win in this category – his first was in 2005.

Judges' comments

In concise style for a magazine format, Greenland summed up complex issues with a pithy turn of phrase.

Biographical Notes from The Walkley Awards website for 2005

Print: Three Headings Winner

Hall Greenland, The Bulletin, "By the Book"

Hall Greenland works as a subeditor and journalist at The Bulletin. He started his career in journalism at The Digger in the 1970s.

Like many a magazine subeditor, Greenland likes to pun and wordplay, and he prefers to draw allusions to popular or literary culture in accessible ways.

"The columnist manifesto" was a sharp line for an exploration of what makes rightleaning commentator Miranda Devine tick, while "Detention deficit disorder" neatly summed up the problems Amanda Vanstone had experienced in her portfolio as immigration minister. "The spies who came in from Coles" was a natural for a piece on the easy availability of spy technology.

Judges' comments

Three clever, catchy heads which borrow from popular culture and recent history to appeal to the reader. It's hard not to smile at "The columnist manifesto" while "Detention deficit disorder" sums up Amanda Vanstone's political woes.