It was first adopted in Australian indigenous communities in Tiwi Islands and later the basis for Pacific-wide coverage of the 2015 Pacific Games in Papua New Guinea.

Kearney hosted a popular sports/talk drive time program on 2HD from 2001 to 2003, and was a sports correspondent for Austereo Stations KOFM and NXFM in the early 2000s.

'[12] The 'Cape Town to Cairo' Series consisted of four one-hour documentaries following a four-wheel drive expedition the length of Africa from the Cape of Good Hope to the Mediterranean Sea.

The death-defying six weeks of filming risked Kearney and his teams' lives under extreme circumstances, dealing with everything from wildlife to rebel gangs of militia.

Kearney is also a freelance writer, with his work appearing in Fairfax Media, football website The Roar[17] and ABC's The Drum.

The judges said: "Aaron Kearney is a deserving winner of this award: he has demonstrated considerable talent, extending across media with apparent fearlessness and aptitude.

"[20] Kearney's 2011 piece "Apocalyptic Hyperbole Leave Journalism Speechless"[18] is a widely cited in journalistic and academic circles.

[21][22] Additionally, as a freelance reporter, his work has been carried by SkyNews Australia, C7 Sports Network, TV3 New Zealand, the BBC and NBC America.

Kearney was a finalist for Travel Writer of the Year at the Kennedy Awards for "Kicking Tiwi Goals", written for Fairfax.

It was first adopted in Australian Indigenous communities in the Tiwi Islands and then used for the Pacific-wide coverage of the 2015 Pacific Games in Papua New Guinea.