Brian Gaynor Initiative Key In Investigative Journalism Award Win
The award, established to honour long-time broker, analyst and business columnist Brian Gaynor, provided financial help allowing Jonathan to research, write and produce his podcast series Powder Keg about New Zealander Chris Ashenden and his billion-dollar …
The Brian Gaynor Business Journalism Initiative congratulates Jonathan Milne, managing editor of Newsroom Pro, for his success at the 2025 Voyager Media Awards.
Last year, Jonathan was the inaugural recipient of funding for investigative business journalism from BGI. The award, established to honour long-time broker, analyst and business columnist Brian Gaynor, provided financial help allowing Jonathan to research, write and produce his podcast series Powder Keg – about New Zealander Chris Ashenden and his billion-dollar supplements company AG1.
On Friday night, Jonathan Milne and Powder Keg won Business Journalist of the Year and Best Original Podcast or Series, as well as being a finalist in the Best Investigation category at the News Publishers' Association-run awards.
'I'd been wanting to tell the story of Chris Ashenden and AG1 for months, but high-quality audio-visual storytelling isn't cheap and resources are tight across the media,' Jonathan says. 'I'd all but given up, then the Brian Gaynor Initiative announced its business journalism funding.
'This was like no journalism grant I'd seen before. A high-trust model gave Newsroom the freedom and flexibility to go where the story led us. As our investigations revealed a far bigger story than we'd imagined, we realised that to track down Ashenden, we'd need to go to Colombia, and then Mexico. BGI trusted us, and backed us, and dug still deeper.
'The story simply wouldn't have happened without that support.'
Anna Gibbons, Brian Gaynor's wife and BGI chair, says he would have been delighted an investigative piece that without funding would not have been possible, had won at the Voyagers.
'This is tangible evidence of the success of our goal – to support important business stories being told.'
BGI recently changed its funding process for investigative projects so they can now be submitted throughout the year.
'We believe this is more in keeping with the nature of journalism as it's practised. We want journalists who come across a potentially substantial investigation to be able to apply when the opportunity arises,' Anna says.
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