A Charles Sturt University (CSU) alumnus has received two major Australian journalism awards.

Ms Amy McNeilage graduated with Distinction from CSU at the end of  2011 and last night was named as the 2015 Walkley Young Australian Journalist of the Year. She also won the Text-based Journalism category of the Walkley Awards.

Associate Professor Chika Anyanwu, Head of the CSU School of Communication and Creative Industries, congratulated Ms McNeilage and said this was a wonderful achievement.

"We are proud of all our graduates, but when they achieve industry acknowledgement such as this so early in their careers we are especially pleased," Professor Anyanwu said. "The whole School congratulates Amy."

Ms McNeilage studied the Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) at CSU in Bathurst from 2009 to 2011. In her final year, Ms McNeilage and fellow student Mr Dominic Bossi were awarded prestigious 12-month traineeships with Fairfax Media to start at the Sydney Morning Herald early 2012. At the time, she said her main interest was politics and she hoped to one day work in Canberra.

Senior lecturer in journalism Dr Margaret Van Heekeren said Ms McNeilage was clearly a stand-out student and she has wasted no time in forging a successful early-stage career in the media.

"The Walkley Award judges were very impressed with Amy's investigation and reporting about the very serious issue of foreign students who purchased essays from the MyMasters website for their university courses," Dr Van Heekeren said. "We look forward to following Amy's career and expect she will be an industry leader in the future. Well done, Amy."

Fellow senior lecturer in journalism Mr Chris McGillion said, "From my first to my last meeting with Amy at Charles Sturt University it was clear to me that she had ink in her veins. She was an outstanding student and has since proved to be an outstanding young journalist. Her award is well deserved."

As the overall winner, Ms McNeilage will fly to the USA to visit CNN in New York or Atlanta, as well as the Twitter headquarters in Washington DC, and The Huffington Post.

Ms McNeilage's Walkley accolade follows the announcement in May this year of a prestigious 2016 Neiman Fellowship at Harvard University for CSU journalism alumnus Mr Hamish Macdonald.