30 June 2010
Latika Bourke was an up-and-coming journalist in the Canberra press gallery until her combination of youthful energy and knowledge of micro-blogging via Twitter made her lead the nation's coverage of the Liberal Leadership spill in late 2009.
Bourke was a mad Tweeter prior to the spill which saw Tony Abbott win the Australian Opposition leadership battle against incumbent Malcolm Turnbull and fellow challenger Joe Hockey.
Her tweeting took career significance on that day.
Bourke was one of a few Canberra journos that I highlighted in a tweet at the time as "ones to follow" if you want to know what's the latest with regards to the spill.
Her efforts helped the hashtag #spill attract global significance as it rose to "trending topic" status on Twitter.
And Bourke picked up a large chunk of new followers who knew she was the one to follow for the latest on this, and future stories, coming out of Canberra.
Bourke's efforts in using Twitter was described as "pioneering" as she received the Walkley Award for Young Australian Journalist of the Year.
Her video interview is below and you can follow her on Twitter @latikambourke.
2010 Young Australian Journalist of the Year - Latika Bourke from Walkley Foundation on Vimeo.