User:Geelongite/sandbox

Matt Hrkac is an Australian photographer, citizen journalist and activist from Geelong, Victoria, Australia. He’s best known for his photography, in particular protest photojournalism, which has accompanied several articles in numerous publications, both nationally and internationally, and has won several awards.

Activities
In 2012, Matt Hrkac wrote to his local member of parliament, Richard Marles, bemoaning the run-down conditions of his school. Marles mentioned his letter in a constituency speech to Parliament, which received coverage at the time in the Geelong Advertiser.

By late 2017, he was writing articles in as well as taking photos for Green Left, covering mostly union and workers rights related issues, as well as broader political issues. He also wrote articles on his personal website, which has been archived in the Pandora Archive.

From 2018 to 2019, he worked for the Victorian Allied Health Professionals Association (VAHPA) in the role of Communications and Social Media Officer, continuing to write occasionally while in this role.

Awards
His photography work covering the Iranian solidarity protests in Melbourne was shortlisted in the 2022 Australian Photography Awards.

In 2022 and also 2023, he won the Editorial category prize in the Sony Alpha (Australia and New Zealand) Awards. Both of these award wins attracted local media attention.

In 2023, he won Amnesty International Australia’s inaugural photography competition, again for his coverage of the Iranian solidarity protests in Melbourne.

Controversies
Hrkac has been a member Greens and in 2017 became secretary of the Greens Geelong branch. He was removed from this position after abusing a prospective employer via email, which was made public and drew media attention.