CHOOSE a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life."

Judging from the spark in her eyes and the excitement in her voice, journalist Caitlyn Gribbin really hasn't worked a day in her short yet thriving career.

Fresh on the back of winning the Walkley Young Australian Journalist of the Year award last week for radio, Caitlyn has been spending time at home in Warwick before her next career move to Perth.

Starting as a cadet reporter at the Warwick Daily News, Caitlyn's radio dreams were anything but a secret from day one.

"I found the transition from print to radio a pretty seamless one, probably mainly thanks to the practical work experience I was doing at both the Daily News and community radio in Toowoomba," Caitlyn said.

"University of Southern Queensland's journalism course is extremely focussed on giving students a real taste of working as a professional journalist, so that study was very helpful in the transition too."

While print and radio are very different media, Caitlyn said they're both aspects of journalism about which she's passionate.

"I love that fact that you can cut a story out of the newspaper and stick it on your fridge," she said.

"My family is full of big newspaper readers and the Daily News, along with larger publications, played a vital role in my education growing up."

Those who know Caitlyn would remember a little publication she started when she was in primary school, titled The Gribbin Gazette.

She'd even convince little brother Patrick, then about three or four years old, to write the joke of the day.

The passion for news obviously translated, with Patrick in his first year studying journalism at the University of Queensland in Brisbane.

Back to radio and Caitlyn's passion is obvious, with the fiery young reporter winning the prestigious Walkley award for her work in radio.

"I'm obviously a big believer in the power and importance of radio," Caitlyn said.

"It is a medium that allows the journalist to ask difficult questions to people in positions of power, something I thrive off.

"As a radio journalist, I also have the ability to produce longer form stories that investigate issues and challenge the status quo."

She says the challenge of being a journalist each day keep her focussed and interested in her job, tackling big stories as an ABC journalist.

"I was reporting in the Lockyer Valley and Toowoomba on the day of the 'inland tsunami' in 2011," Caitlyn recalled.

"That was a tragic day but one where, as a journalist, I knew I still had a job to do.

"In times of disaster, radio journalists need to sound empathetic while still relaying the facts to our audience.

"Achieving that balance is certainly a challenge."

Another challenging story she covered - and one of the three which earned her the Walkley - was about claims of drug abuse in the coal mining industry.

"I travelled to Queensland's Bowen Basin, interviewing, on and off the record, more than 50 people," Caitlyn explained.

"The interviews were extremely difficult to obtain, given the controversial nature of the issue.

"But securing those interviews and producing the investigative piece was very rewarding."

Caitlyn started with ABC in mid-2009 as a rural reporter based in Mount Isa and covering north-west Queensland.

She then moved to Bundaberg as a rural reporter for the Wide Bay region in April 2011, until July last year when she moved to Brisbane as a national rural reporter.

"I'd moved away from Bundy when the floods hit in January this year but was sent back there to report for the ABC," Caitlyn said.

"It was confronting seeing the region I'd lived and worked in being devastated by the biggest flood in Bundaberg's history.

"It really hit home when I interviewed residents who'd been rescued from their rooftops as floodwaters rose at a terrifying speed."

She said it was difficult to see the beachside town of Bargara, where she lived while working in Bundaberg, hit by a tornado.

"It was the stuff you hear about happening in other countries, not Australia," Caitlyn said.

"But the most awful stories came from the north Bundaberg area, where some houses had literally been swept off their stumps.

"Others had sunk into the soil or collapsed.

"An ABC cameraman said to me it reminded him of a filming the aftermath of a hurricane."

But it was the strength of the residents which inspired Caitlyn as a journalist.

"I interviewed a couple in their mid-80s who were determined to clean the metre of mud out of their house," she recalled.

"Leaving north Bundaberg wasn't an option for them.

"Witnessing that resilience was just incredible."

It is Caitlyn's passion for people, in particular rural people, which makes so many of her peers - and Walkley judges - admire her work.

Growing up in the Southern Downs played an important part in shaping Caitlyn's journalistic path to rural reporting.

"My grandmother, Sybil Bourke, still lives on a farm at Freestone," Caitlyn said.

"I think my rural background has given me an excellent understanding of the trials and tribulations of farming and rural life in general.

"It's also shown me how important the ABC is to country people."

She said all her grandparents played an important role in her career development.

"My grandmother Sybil always follows my career closely and her encouragement has helped me progress in my career," Caitlyn said.

"My late grandfather, Gabriel Bourke, was a rural man his whole life and was very proud when I started working as a rural reporter.

"He taught me how important agriculture is to not just rural Australia, but the entire country.

"That gave me a passion for working in the bush.

"My late grandmother, Eileen Gribbin, who was a school teacher, taught me compassion and the importance of listening - perhaps the greatest skill a journalist can have."

Family is obviously an integral part of Caitlyn's life, with parents Julie and Peter over the moon with her win.

"As parents we are just so delighted and proud that Caitlyn received the Walkley Award," Julie said.

"We are also proud of her work ethic, determination and passion to be the best she can.

"Caitlyn has always dreamed of being a journalist and her goal was to work for the ABC."

"Her passion and determination was obvious when she made the move to Mt Isa as a rural reporter for the ABC four years ago," Peter added.

"Caitlyn moving to Perth is an exciting and rewarding direction for her to be heading in.

"While we will really miss her not being close by, we realise this is something she has aspired to and will be successful at.

"Hopefully we'll also get to see some of Perth and Western Australia as well."

Julie and Peter paid tribute to the "educational grounding" that all four Gribbin children Caitlyn, Lucy, Hannah and Patrick received here in Warwick.

"Firstly at St Mary's Primary School and later at Assumption College, was proof that what is available in our own backyard, is on a par with schooling in the metropolitan areas," Julie said.

"Caitlyn, and her three siblings, were privileged to have been taught by the wonderful local speech and drama teacher, Rita McIvor.

"Rita is related to and was a lifelong friend to Caitlyn's late grandmother, Eileen Gribbin.

"Caitlyn and ourselves are eternally grateful for Rita's dedicated and passionate tuition in speech and drama, which has undoubtedly exhibited itself in Caitlyn's journalistic prose."

Julie and Peter spoke to Caitlyn in Dubai on Skype after the announcement of the Walkley win.

"They know how important journalism is to me and how special it is to win the prestigious award," Caitlyn said.

"My parents have always encouraged me to chase my goals in journalism, even when it's meant moving far away from Warwick.

"They're both avid news followers so I'm often asking for their advice on stories I'm working on."

While's she's never been to Western Australia, Caitlyn's looking forward to moving to Perth for her new job as a radio current affairs reporter.

"I'll be reporting for ABC Radio's flagship current affairs programs AM, The World Today and PM," she explained.

"They are regarded as the agenda-setting news programs in Australia's media landscape and it's an honour to have gotten the job.

"Working for ABC radio current affairs has been a goal of mine for many years and I'm looking forward to the challenge that awaits me in Perth."

But she said it would be difficult living away from her family on the opposite side of the country when she makes the move.

"Over the past six months, all of my siblings and I have been living in Brisbane (Lucy, Hannah and Patrick study at UQ) which has been a wonderful treat," Caitlyn said.

"I'll miss having my family so close and, of course, Mum's cooking that's so often brought into the city from home."

Caitlyn's already planned her first two trips home - one in August for a cousin's wedding and one in September for sister Hannah's 21st birthday party.

"My must-do in Warwick is catching up with my large extended family and getting the news from my cousins, especially from the younger ones who are still at primary school," Caitlyn said.

"They all have such fantastic personalities and I think a few of them could be journalists one day too."

Whether it's brother Patrick or another Gribbin relative, if the passion for journalism runs in their blood as strongly as Caitlyn's, the future of rural reporting is looking pretty strong.