McDonell has a Master of Arts, Journalism degree from the University of Technology in Sydney and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wollongong. He has won several Walkley Awards including one for investigative journalism in 1996, for coverage of the Asia Pacific region in 2008 and for Radio reporting in 2008. He won the Logie Award for most outstanding news coverage in 2008 following his reporting on the Sichuan earthquake.