NZ’s go-to news destination celebrates Voyager Media Awards nominations

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+