JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2018 117
after battling cancer.
Long-time aviation editor at The
Australian, former AAPC president
and now editor/Asia Pacific bureau
chief for Airline Ratings Steve Creedy
said Sandilands was a giant of the
industry in his five decades as a
journalist.
“I think it’s pretty fair to say that
there will only ever be one Benoni
Fairfax Sandilands,” Creedy said in
his speech to attendees at the awardsdinner.
“Ben was a force unto himself,
a larger-than-life character whose
enthusiasm for and knowledge of the
subject matter was without question.
“He held strong and passionate
opinions and was not backwards about
putting them forward. Ben wasn’t
always right in what he said but it
came from his heart and was without
malice.”
Creedy said his strongest
memory of Sandilands was at press
conferences, a sentiment shared by
many in the room on the night.
“Ben is the only person I have
encountered who could answer his
own question before he had actually
asked it,” he said.
“This would often involve a long
preamble in which Ben would outline
the missteps taken in recent times
by the unfortunate recipient of the
question and if they were extremely
unlucky some of the mistakes they
were about to make.
“Those who didn’t know Ben
would assume a sort of deer-in-the-
headlights look, while those who did
would nod sagely and try to either
avoid the question entirely or answer
as best they could.
“The other great memory was the
camaraderie on numerous trips. I
was always pleased to see Ben part
of the group because it meant good
conversations about unusual things,
sometimes very unusual things.”photographers and Australian
Aviation contributors Seth Jaworski
and Paul Sadler were named winner
and runner-up, respectively, in the
photographer of the year award.
Jaworski took the trophy in this
category for a second straight year.
The Australian aviation news story
of the year award went to Reuters’
Jamie Freed for her piece “Sydney
Airport says new terms unviable,
sows doubt on involvement”, while
Adrian Schofield’s story “New Zealand
Targets Advanced Airport Screening”
in Aviation Week took out the New
Zealand aviation news story award.
Matt O’Sullivan’s investigation in
Fairfax Media on what happened on a
Qantas Airbus A330 that suddenly lost
altitude, “The untold story of QF72”,
won best feature story for 2017.
The annual awards dinner also
included a tribute to veteran aviation
reporter and 2015 AAPC lifetime
achievement award recipient Ben
Sandilands, who died in late October
AAPC 2017
The Australasian Aviation Press
Club’s annual awards night is
a chance to recognise peers,
catch up with friends and enjoy
some light entertainment.
SETH JAWORSKI