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From the Editors

The Conversation wins the 2022 Melbourne Award for Knowledge and Innovation

Melbourne Deputy Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece, The Conversation's Editor Misha Ketchell and CEO Lisa Watts, Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp.
Melbourne Deputy Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece, The Conversation’s Editor Misha Ketchell and CEO Lisa Watts, Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp. City of Melbourne

The Conversation is proud to be the winner of the 2022 Melbourne Award for Knowledge and Innovation.

Now in its 20th year, the Melbourne Awards are the City of Melbourne’s highest accolades, celebrating the inspirational Melburnians who dedicate their time and energy to making this city a world leader. In the 2022 awards, eight key areas were identified to reflect the way in which programs and organisations contribute to Melbourne as a thriving, forward-thinking capital city.

“Just over 10 years ago, The Conversation was a small group of journalists all sitting around a big Ikea desk, ringing academics asking them to write for a website that hadn’t launched yet,” said CEO Lisa Watts, accepting the award.

CEO Lisa Watts receiving The Conversation’s Melbourne Award. City of Melbourne

“Now we are 200 journalists with 10 editions, teams in London, Boston, New York, Paris, Madrid, Jakarta, Auckland, Nairobi, Joburg, and Toronto, 400 university partners and articles are our read by more than 20 million people a month.

"The Conversation could not have started in any other city than Melbourne. We’re proud to have exported it to the world.”

Watch Lisa and our Editor Misha Ketchell discuss our organisation’s evolution with the City of Melbourne:

To learn more about why The Conversation was chosen for this award, watch Channel Nine’s recent Melbourne Awards special – you can find our segment at 4:17.

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