The editor-in-chief of independent publication Crikey has apologised for heckling the winners of the top gong at Australia’s most coveted journalism awards during an incident which has infuriated the ABC and prompted the national broadcaster to make a formal complaint.

ABC journalists Anne Connolly, Stephanie Zillman and Ali Russell won the Gold Walkley at the annual Walkley Awards on Thursday night but during their speech Peter Fray shouted “what about Crikey” from his table at the International Convention Centre in Sydney.

The intervention shocked the room. The ABC’s director of news, analysis and investigations, Justin Stevens, wrote to Private Media chair Eric Beecher on Friday demanding an apology from Fray to the ABC reporters.

“I’d like to offer my sincere congratulations to the ABC’s Anne Connolly, Stephanie Zillman and Ali Russell for their Gold Walkley and unreservedly apologise to them for my unprofessional behaviour at the award ceremony last night,” Fray said when contacted by this masthead on Friday. In a public post on Twitter late on Friday, Fray said he had contacted Stevens, Connolly, Zillman and Russell to apologise.

Connolly, Zillman and Russell were recognised at the Walkley Awards for their investigation that examined the public guardian and trustee agencies controlling the lives of more than 50,000 Australians. The investigation, which was a year in the making, went to air in early March.

Crikey journalist Amber Schultz published a series of articles on the same matter in Crikey in September 2021 and March 2022 as part of an investigation called “Kidnapped by the State”.

“My passion for the reporting of Crikey’s Amber Schultz on the same subject is zero excuse for my behaviour,” Fray said on Friday. “I appreciate all of my journalistic colleagues, especially those working for the public broadcaster.”