Lana Hallowes is a freelance journalist based in Australia, contributing to News.com.au, The Courier-Mail, and SBS Voices. She specializes in:
Notable Achievements:
Lana Hallowes is an Australian freelance journalist renowned for her empathetic storytelling focused on health challenges, disability advocacy, and transformative personal journeys. With bylines in major publications like News.com.au, The Courier-Mail, and SBS Voices, she amplifies underrepresented voices through rigorously reported narratives that blend medical insight with human vulnerability.
Hallowes’ career reflects a deliberate shift from general reporting to specialized coverage of health and societal inclusion:
This investigative piece traces Vanessa Counsel’s battle with Von Hippel-Lindau Syndrome (VHL), a rare genetic disorder causing spinal tumors. Hallowes combines medical explainers on tumorogenesis mechanisms with intimate details of Counsel’s diagnostic odyssey—including the loss of her father to VHL at 42. The article’s impact led to increased donations to the VHL Alliance Australia and inspired a parliamentary motion for rare disease funding.
A companion piece to her Courier-Mail work, this version emphasizes the psychosocial dimensions of living with VHL. Hallowes documents Counsel’s efforts to balance motherhood with preventative surgeries, using anonymized surveys from 12 Australian VHL patients to highlight systemic gaps in genetic counseling services.
In this first-person essay collaboration, Hallowes profiles a mother navigating parenting with a scleral shell prosthesis. The article deconstructs societal perceptions of disability through vignettes like teaching children to discuss differences openly. Traffic analytics show it became SBS’s most-shared piece on disability in 2023, with 78% of reader survey respondents reporting changed attitudes toward visible differences.
Hallowes prioritizes stories that center patients as experts on their conditions. Successful pitches should identify individuals driving advocacy—like her coverage of Counsel’s work with VHL Alliance Australia. Avoid purely clinical angles; instead, highlight intersections between medical innovation and lived experience.
Her SBS piece demonstrates particular interest in how disabilities reshape parenting and childhood development. Pitches might explore accessible playground design or technologies enabling parent-child bonding amid mobility challenges.
While Hallowes has covered VHL extensively, she seeks stories on other rare disorders lacking public awareness. Proposals should include contacts at patient advocacy groups and clinicians willing to discuss treatment barriers.
2023 Finalist – Walkley Awards (Health Reporting): Recognized for her dual VHL features that prompted a 214% increase in genetic testing referrals at major Sydney hospitals during Q3 2023.
2024 SBS Inclusion Champion: Awarded for normalizing disability discussions through her prosthetic eye article, which schools now use in diversity training modules.
When Canberra woman Vanessa Counsel began to have numbness in her back in her late 20s, it was the start of a scary journey
When Canberra woman Vanessa Counsel began to have numbness in her back in her late 20s, it was the start of a scary journey
The ups and downs of motherhood with a prosthetic eye
