🧵If someone told me at the start of this year that I’d win not one, but two Young Journalist of the Year Awards, I probably would have said something like “in my dreams maybe”.

🇦🇺 Class Warfare ▫‘I will slit your throat’: Death threats, violence triggering daily school lockdowns ▫@RebeccaaBorg #frontpagestoday #Australia @theheraldsun

#EXCLUSIVE A secret dossier obtained by the @theheraldsun reveals extreme acts of violence — including students brandishing garden shears and threatening to kill other children — are forcing schools to perform full safety shutdowns every day.

I’d like to express my gratitude to everyone who has offered me their well wishes and messages of support. And to all my contacts and sources, thank you so much for trusting me to tell your stories.

Also a final big thank you to the beautiful @suzangiuliani and Susie O'Brien who in the last year have helped mould me into the education journalist I am today. There are so many other wonderful people in the Herald Sun newsroom I could thank and I’m grateful for the support.

A special thanks to the News Corp Australia News Award judges for taking the time to read my work, and a shout out to the four other fantastic and hard working nominees who I got to share this category alongside.

On Tuesday, those hopes became a reality, when News Corp Chief Thomson announced I was the winner of the 2025 Young Journalist of the Year News Award. While I was lost for words then, I’ve found the words now to express how privileged I feel to have received this award.

Winning the Young Journalist Quill in March was a career goal I set almost four years ago when I first started my career as a 20-year-old cadet in Sydney. While I also had high hopes of receiving the Young Journalist News Award, I didn’t think it’d happen for a few more years.

Making kids happy and thriving is fundamental to their education success. Bullying in schools is a serious problem with severe negative consequences for students' mental health, academic performance, and overall well-being. With explicit expectations and a consistent approach

A former Blackburn High music teacher who admitted he “snapped” when he dragged a student out of the classroom and slapped them has had his Working With Children Check reinstated, despite calls for tougher penalties against offenders | @theheraldsun https://t.co/953uLzrPrt

Exclusive documents reveal almost 300 Victorian schools were hit by vandals last year, with arson attacks, theft and smashed windows draining more than $2m from budgets. See how much was spent on repairs at your school | @theheraldsun https://t.co/ClU2WXIQ99

Talented young basketballer Milla Killeen who died in a school bus crash near Geelong has been remembered for her “vibrancy” and “beautiful personal qualities” | @theheraldsun @brooke_gc https://t.co/GdoQYr6MkR

Education Minister @JasonClareMP is fully supporting at least five of the recommendations made in Victoria’s child safety review, with a national childcare worker register and CCTV trials to be rolled out within months | @theheraldsun https://t.co/Tc5ZmO3Nud

Great news to wake up to - Victoria is top of the class in NAPLAN!

🇦🇺 Quick Fox For Child Safety ▫A “practical, easy to use” childcare workers register could be implemented “tomorrow”, an ex-government adviser says, urging the government not to “sit around” for years waiting for one to be built ▫@RebeccaaBorg @Carly__Douglas #frontpagestoday

#EXCLUSIVE A “practical, easy to use” childcare workers register could be implemented “tomorrow”, an ex-government adviser says, urging the government not to “sit around” for years waiting for one to be built | @theheraldsun @Carly__Douglas https://t.co/1CzcGfbzqD

Kids as young as 12 are being exposed to novels normalising sexual assault and domestic violence via TikTok, prompting calls for an industry-wide book rating classification system | @theheraldsun @ACUmedia https://t.co/1XwJlKJFRV

🇦🇺 Childcare Man Ban ▫Male workers will be banned from changing nappies in 16 Victorian childcare centres following a snap decision by an operator on Friday, days after Joshua Brown was revealed as an alleged predator ▫@RebeccaaBorg @susieob #frontpagestoday #Australia

🇦🇺 Schools Disability Rort ▫Taxpayers are funding a $2bn private and Catholic school disability “rort”, with whistleblowers claiming teachers are being pressured to nominate students as disabled to win funding windfalls ▫@susieob @RebeccaaBorg #frontpagestoday #Australia

A former Scotch College student who allegedly suffered “irreversible and irreparable” abuse at the hands of multiple teachers in the 1980s is suing the elite school and urging other alleged victims to come forward | @theheraldsun https://t.co/IEkNBjTOTu