Avani Dias (born 15 November 1991) is a Sri Lankan Australian journalist and radio presenter. She is currently posted as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)'s international

foreign correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

for South East Asia, based in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

. Dias is perhaps best known for being the presenter of current affairs program ''

Hack Hack may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * ''Hack'' (Unix video game), a 1984 roguelike video game * ''.hack'' (video game series), a series of video games by the multimedia franchise ''.hack'' Music * ''Hack'' (album), a 199 ...

'' on youth radio station

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

from 2020 to 2021, after succeeding Tom Tilley at the end of 2019. Raised in

South Western Sydney South Western Sydney is a region of the metropolitan area in southwest Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the predominantly working class area of Greater Western Sydney. The region lies in the Cumberland Plain. Local government ...

, Dias completed her tertiary education at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

, where she wrote for the student newspaper ''

Honi Soit ''Honi Soit'' is the student newspaper of the University of Sydney. First published in 1929, the newspaper is produced by an elected editorial team and a select group of reporters sourced from the university's populace. The name is an abbrevia ...

''. In her early career, she worked at independent radio station

FBi Radio FBi (call sign: 2FBI) station is an independent, not-for-profit community radio in Sydney, Australia. FBi places a heavy emphasis on local emerging music: it has a policy that at least 50 per cent of its music content is to be Australian, of wh ...

and the online newspaper ''

The New Daily ''The New Daily'' is an online, non-paywalled, Australian newspaper founded in 2013 The founding editor is Bruce Guthrie, currently the editorial director (as at the beginning of June 2019), who was formerly the Editor-in-Chief of the ''Herald ...

'' whilst also working as a production assistant at the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

. Dias received a cadetship at

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

in 2015, becoming a video-journalist and later anchoring the Darwin 7PM News bulletin. Dias has won and been nominated for various journalistic awards, including Public Interest Award at the New South Wales Premier's Multicultural Communications Awards in 2019.

Biography

Early life and education

Avani Dias was born on 15 November 1991, in Wattle Grove, New South Wales. Dias grew up in the

south west The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia. The eldest of two siblings, Dias has one brother, Seth. Dias' mother is also a journalist at the ABC. She completed her secondary schooling at Bankstown Grammar School in 2009, and completed her tertiary education at the

. In early 2013, she was elected as one of ten editors for the university's student newspaper ''

''.

Career

Dias began her career with

, which she credits as giving her "a start in media". Dias began working at the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

(ABC) as a

production assistant A production assistant, also known as a PA, is a member of the film crew and is a job title used in filmmaking and television for a person responsible for various aspects of a production. The job of a PA can vary greatly depending on the budget ...

, before being awarded a cadetship with ''

'' in 2015. She went on to work as a multi-platform and video-journalist for the ABC in Sydney and Darwin, later anchoring the Darwin 7PM News bulletin. In December 2019, Dias was announced as the new radio presenter for current affairs program

on the ABC's youth-focused radio station

, which she hosted until December 2021. In 2021 it was announced that Dias would relocate to New Delhi to serve as the ABC's foreign correspondent for South East Asia. Dias additionally wrote for ''

'' from 2015 to 2017.

Awards and nominations

New South Wales Premier's Multicultural Communications Awards

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2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Premier's Multicultural Communications Awards The Premier's Multicultural Communications Awards (PMCAs) are Australian journalism awards held each year by New South Wales Parliament and Multicultural NSW. History The awards, originally known as Premier's Multicultural Media Awards, were e ...

, Public Interest Award , ,

Walkley Awards

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Walkley Awards The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...

, Young Australian Journalist of the Year , , , - ! scope="row",

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2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, Public Service Journalism Award , ,

NT Press Club Awards

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References

External links

Profile
on

*
Avani Dias
at ''Muck Rack'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Dias, Avani 1991 births Living people Australian women journalists Australian people of Sri Lankan descent Australian radio presenters Australian women radio presenters FBi Radio presenters People from Wattle Grove, New South Wales Triple J announcers University of Sydney alumni