Authors: The Sunday Age Journalist: Deborah Gough
Year: 2007
Event: 2007 TheMHS Awards
Subject:
Type of resource: TheMHS Awards
Award state: VIC
Award level: Winner
Award category: Print
Abstract: School newsletters sometimes carry a picture of a student – often smiling in school uniform – announcing the student’s sudden death and, cryptically, cautioning against rumours and blame. Clearly some suspect suicide. Rather than pursue such rumours, The Sunday Age sought to gain an understanding of what type of events most commonly take place in the lead up to a school-age death by intentional self harm. It took eight months of careful negotiation with the Coroner’s Court to gain access to the files. The stories we found were heart wrenching, but the statistics could not tell of the sadness felt. To do those files justice the paper found Rod Kindred, whose son, Travis was not the subject of the files, but whose story was, by now all too familiar. Deborah Gough began her reporting career at Fairfax Community Newspapers as a cadet for the Williamstown Advertiser. She was a regional editor of four suburban newspapers in Melbourne’s inner west before joining the short-lived Melbourne Express as chief of staff and day editor. On the paper’s closure she joined the Age where she has worked a property columnist, section deputy editor and social affairs reporter. After returning from maternity leave in 2006 she joined the Sunday Age where she is now Education and Families reporter
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