Building further on its reputation as New Zealand’s go-to news destination with 2.7 million Kiwis keeping up with the news via its multiple platforms*, New Zealand Media and Entertainment is today celebrating 70 nominations for this year’s prestigious Voyager Media Awards.
Many of the company’s journalists have been named as finalists across multiple categories, as well as NZME’s various platforms including NZ Herald, BusinessDesk, Weekend Herald, magazines Viva and Canvas, community newspapers and digital platforms now vying for top spots come the esteemed awards night in August.
“The scale and depth of the nominations are testament to the extraordinary work of our newsroom teams over the past year, providing high quality, trusted journalism and having a clear focus on keeping Kiwis in the know,” says NZME managing editor Shayne Currie.
The NZ Herald is once again a finalist for News Website of the Year and News App of the Year, which it has won for the past two years – a signal of NZME’s ongoing focus on growing its digital platforms. NZME’s BusinessDesk is also a finalist for Website of the Year.
The NZ Herald and Weekend Herald are also finalists for best metropolitan and best weekend paper respectively while NZME’s Rotorua Daily Post will be looking to retain the title of best regional newspaper and Kāpiti News is up for Community Newspaper of the Year.
The Herald’s 90% Project – a campaign to drive the double vaccination of New Zealand’s eligible population to 90% by Christmas 2021 - is up for Editorial Campaign of the Year, along with The Brains Trust, a special series focused on dementia.
“From exclusive and in depth news reporting to investigative journalism and feature writing; and from production, design, photography, video, cartooning to innovative digital storytelling, our NZME journalists are represented in every possible newsroom discipline,” says Currie.
“In a day and age of misinformation, it is heartening to see high-quality, trusted journalism shining through.”
Award winners will be announced at a gala dinner in Auckland on August 20.
Voyager Media Awards, NZME finalists
Website of the Year: nzherald.co.nz
App of the Year: NZ Herald
Metropolitan Newspaper of the Year: NZ Herald
Weekend Newspaper of the Year: Weekend Herald
Regional Newspaper of the Year: Rotorua Daily Post
Community Newspaper of the Year: Kāpiti News
Best newspaper magazine: Canvas, Viva
Best newspaper front page: Herald on Sunday, Weekend Herald
Best editorial project: The 90% Project, NZ Herald; The Brains Trust, NZ Herald
Best coverage of a major news event: Auckland supermarket terror attack, NZ Herald; The Fall of Afghanistan, Kurt Bayer/NZ Herald
Best innovation in digital storytelling: Transmission Gully fly-through, NZ Herald
Reporter of the Year: David Fisher
Best Junior Reporter: Adam Pearse
Best individual investigation: Tom Dillane, The death of Olivia Podmore; Jared Savage, NZ’s meth crisis
Reporter finalists: Steve Braunias, Kim Knight (arts and culture); Anna Leask, Jared Savage (crime); Alison Smith (environment); Kurt Bayer, Jamie Morton (general); Kim Knight, Juliette Sivertson (lifestyle); Felix Desmarais (local government); Jamie Morton (science); Nicholas Jones (social issues health, education)
Political journalist of the year: Claire Trevett, Thomas Coughlan, Audrey Young
Business Journalist of the Year: Jane Phare, Matt Nippert
Sports journalist of the Year: Neil Reid
Regional Journalist of the Year: Felix Desmarais
Best data journalism: Chris McDowall, Keith Ng
Best headline or hook: Nicholas Sorensen
Feature Writer of the Year (short-form): Steve Braunias, Simon Wilson
Feature Writer of the Year (long-form): Simon Wilson
Junior Feature Writer of the Year: Katie Harris
Best first-person essay or feature: Matt Nippert, Simon Wilson
Feature writing finalists: Steve Braunias, Tom Dillane (general); Jared Savage (crime and justice)
Photographer of the Year: George Heard, Brett Phibbs
Photography finalists: Babiche Martens (features), Brett Phibbs (news); John Cowpland (sport); Mike Scott (photo story-essay)
Best documentary: The Brains Trust
Best feature video: Mike Scott
Best Columnist: Liam Dann, Kim Knight, Simon Wilson
Cartoonist of the Year: Rod Emerson, Guy Body
Best reviewer: Simon Wilson
Editorial Leader of the Year: Hamish Fletcher, Stephanie Holmes
Student Journalist of the Year: Emily Moorhouse
Source: Nielsen CMI Fused Q4 20 – Q3 21 Nov 2021 AP15+