Editor's Press Release of the Month | Wasted opportunity: How Australia can turn trash into jobs and innovation

Medianet’s Press Release of the Month recognises excellence in communication craft - releases that strategically combine timing, clarity, and measurable impact to achieve maximum visibility. October’s standout release, UNSW Sydney’s “Wasted opportunity: How Australia can turn trash into jobs and innovation,” exemplified how purpose, timing, and precision can converge to dominate a news cycle. Here are some reasons why it was picked:

Strategic timing and context (News values: Timeliness, Impact, Relevance)

Released under embargo on 20 October 2025 and lifted the following day, the UNSW announcement was perfectly timed to coincide with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s first official meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington DC. That meeting produced the landmark $8.5 billion Australia–U.S. Critical Minerals Framework Agreement, positioning Australia as a global partner in advanced manufacturing. Against this backdrop, UNSW’s narrative of “turning waste into innovation” complemented the week’s leading headlines, which focused on resource value and industrial opportunity. The deliberate timing drives stronger media  impact by giving journalists a ready-made domestic angle tied to a major international event.

Embargo as a media strategy (News values: Timeliness and Exclusivity)

Embargoing the release until 1pm on 21 October was a strategic move - UNSW gave editors and producers the lead time to assign resources, prepare interviews, line up visuals and prepare interviews with Professor Veena Sahajwalla before the embargo lifted - ensuring that when the story broke, it appeared in fully formed articles rather than short reactive mentions. This approach allowed the release to hit newsrooms when interest in Australia’s resource and innovation policy was at its peak. Rather than competing with the Albanese-Trump coverage, it extended and deepened it, offering a sustainability perspective that linked clean manufacturing to jobs and local innovation. From a communications standpoint, it was a textbook case of using an embargo to shape, not chase, the news cycle.

Coverage and tone (News values: Prominence, Proximity, and Positivity)

Following the embargo lift, the story achieved broad national pickup across trade, regional, and national outlets. Several feature-length stories quoted directly from Professor Veena Sahajwalla and highlighted examples of circular economy success in Liverpool, Taree, and Wellington.This gave the story proximity and made it relatable to local audiences while maintaining national significance. National coverage reinforced the release’s central idea - that waste is an untapped economic opportunity - and the tone across outlets was uniformly constructive, positive and forward-looking, positioning UNSW as both thought leader and practical innovator. The positive framing of “turning trash into jobs” proved both headline-friendly and policy-relevant, driving sustained engagement beyond the day of release.

Why it stood out (News values: Significance and Human Interest)

UNSW’s “Wasted opportunity” release exemplifies the power of proactive communication strategy. It translated complex research into a nationally relevant story, anticipated the diplomatic and policy environment, and executed with newsroom-ready discipline. By including human-centred examples, a strong headline, and embargo strategy, the release contributed to measurable outcomes for UNSW: widespread coverage, positive sentiment, and clear message retention.

By aligning its story with Australia’s global moment through deliberate timing, strong local context, and disciplined newsroom preparation, it demonstrated how to convert a university research announcement into a national conversation. For these reasons - along with its embodiment of timeliness, impact and public relevance - it was named Medianet’s Press Release of the Month for October 2025.