RMIT student Charlotte Wilkes wins Rural Press Club’s Young Journalist of the Year

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RMIT student Charlotte Wilkes wins Rural Press Club’s Young Journalist of the Year

Journalism student Charlotte has been recognised for her exceptional reporting on issues impacting rural communities through ABC Ballarat.

Charlotte Wilkes has not yet graduated from her Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) degree, but her reporting is already winning awards and acclaim.

Throughout 2025, Charlotte has been completing her final year of study at RMIT while already working as a full-time news reporter for ABC Ballarat.

Earlier this month, she was awarded the 2025 Rural Press Club of Victoria's Young Journalist of the Year Award.

The award recognised Charlotte’s work at ABC Ballarat and her coverage of issues impacting rural communities, including GP shortages and the need for greater diversity in the languages taught in schools.

The judges commended Charlotte for her strong journalism that explores national issues through local experiences.

Charlotte was also commended in the Best Written News Story category.

Accepting her award at a gala event in West Gippsland, Charlotte thanked her teachers and coworkers for helping her develop her reporting skills.

This award is truly a testament to the RMIT course and tutors, and the guidance of my colleagues at the ABC

Person smiling holding trophy

Charlotte Wilkes, winner of 2025 Rural Press Club of Victoria's Young Journalist of the Year Award

Establishing a career in journalism

Charlotte credits her teacher Dr Jason Foster for motivating her to get out into the industry before she graduated. Dr Foster encouraged his class to pursue internships and pushed Charlotte to undertake work experience at ABC Ballarat.

Her internship helped Charlotte secure a full-time role as a news reporter, where she has crafted audio packages for local radio, written articles and read live news bulletins broadcast across Victoria.

Charlotte's work has also appeared on national programs including Triple J Hack, ABC News and Stateline.

Person holding microphone standing in field

Charlotte Wilkes with ABC Ballarat

Being a voice for regional communities

For Charlotte, who grew up in Melbourne, moving to Ballarat helped her see and understand the systemic challenges faced by rural communities.

One of Charlotte's stories investigated doctor shortages in the region. Through her investigations, she discovered that medical schools are turning away thousands of eligible Australian applicants due to underfunded medical places, meaning students who may want to work as regional doctors are being shut out before they can even start studying.

“I never truly understood the challenges of accessing healthcare in regional areas until I lived outside Melbourne,” said Charlotte.

I've never struggled to see a doctor but in regional communities it's one of the most common frustrations I hear.

Charlotte's story raised awareness around the underfunding of medical places at universities and resonated widely, attracting more than 91,000 views online and was turned into an ABC Australia-wide radio package.

Four people smiling at camera

Advocating for diversity and inclusion in schools

Another piece of reporting was inspired by Charlotte's sister, a primary school teacher, who told her about inequalities in language curriculum in schools.

Charlotte's sister teaches a multicultural class, and her students would often ask her why they learn the languages that they do, and why they can't learn others.

“Upon researching the Ballarat area, I found that there was a high proportion of Punjabi speakers, yet no schools offered it within their course curriculum,” said Charlotte.

“It got me thinking about how the languages taught in schools are chosen and why we don't value learning other languages as much.”

The resulting story explored the importance of representation within schools and how it impacts children from diverse backgrounds’ sense of belonging and self.

Classes with a career focus

Charlotte credits the practical approach of her classes at RMIT in preparing her for her career.

“At RMIT, I had the opportunity to produce TV packages for Channel 31 and live anchoring for Newsline amongst many other opportunities,” said Charlotte.

The journalism course encourages students to take initiative, providing resources and guidance on internships but letting the students take the lead in securing their places.

“That sense of independence and real-world responsibility has been crucial in my current career with the ABC and one of the major reasons I've been able to thrive,” said Charlotte.

These experiences really set RMIT apart from other journalism programs.

Person smiling operating camera and sitting in car

Charlotte Wilkes with ABC Ballarat

What's next?

After finishing her studies, Charlotte will continue to work as a news reporter in Ballarat. In the future, she hopes to explore different ABC bureaus across Australia and overseas.

“As a news reporter I get to do a bit of everything including radio, TV and writing and I genuinely love all of it!” said Charlotte.

"I'm really excited to see where journalism takes me next!"

Charlotte would like to thank her university lecturers including Josie Vine, Jason Foster, Sherine Conyers and Tito Ambyo for their support, and members of the ABC Ballarat office, including her editor Matthew Neal and colleagues Eden Hynninen and Laura Mayers.

Find out more about Charlotte on her ABC profile and LinkedIn.

Celebrating our 2025 graduates

To read about more exceptional RMIT students graduating this year, go to Celebrating our 2025 graduates.

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Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

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