The United Nations Association of Australia award for Increasing Awareness and Understanding for Women's Rights and Issues was presented to Ms Quinlan at a gala media dinner at Hilton on the Park in Melbourne on Friday night.

In accepting the award, Ms Quinlan said working on the five-month campaign last year was one of the most challenging but rewarding times in her 32-year career as a journalist.

"Before embarking on this campaign, I knew little about the many and varied issues surrounding family violence," Ms Quinlan said.

"I was unaware of the many triggers of family violence, the different forms family violence manifests into and the many, many worthy organisations in Ballarat available to help victims and perpetrators

alike."

Other finalists in the UNAA category included the ABC for its story on Rosie Batty, ABC News for its story called "No Excuse" and The Conversation wesbite for its story, Domestic Violence in Australia.

The Courier's It's Up to Us campaign was launched in June last year with a controversial story about former City of Ballarat Citizen of the Year Tony Lovett, who openly and honestly admitted he had been a perpetrator of family violence, but had sought help from the CAFS's men's behavioural change program.

The extensive campaign, which had the backing of Victoria Police and the White Ribbon Foundation, also included heartbreaking stories about survivors of family violence, how the legal system worked to help alleviate the problem and highlighted the services available in the region for people going through family violence

situations.

"The campaign snowballed ... after only a few weeks, people were contacting us to have their stories told," Ms Quinlan said.

"I was very humbled when one family violence survivor I interviewed during the campaign called to thank me for telling her story. She said the article had given her the strength to return to her passion in life, painting, and her son (who was also featured in the article) picked up his guitar and began playing it again."

The multi-award-winning campaign also received the Rural Press Club of Victoria best feature award and back-to-back City of Ballarat Community Safety Award gongs.

The Courier editor Andrew Eales said the award was a fitting reward for Ms Quinlan.

"Kim is a deserving winner of such a prestigious national award. Her work has broken down barriers in our community and paved the way for a new conversation about family violence," Mr Eales said.

"We are very proud of Kim and are fortunate to have such a skilled journalist on our team."