Stuff scoops best digital news site at 2024 Voyager Media Awards

Friday, 24 May 2024

Innovative live, mobile digital news has seen Stuff recognised as New Zealand’s best digital news site at the Voyager Media Awards which honours the country’s top journalism.

The country’s highest-profile media stars gathered at the awards held in Auckland on Friday night, during a tumultuous year for the industry which has seen staff cuts at TVNZ and the closure of Newshub news.

In naming Stuff the country’s Digital News Provider of the Year judges said: “Stuff’s innovative approaches to reaching new audiences across different platforms, with a special focus on live and mobile, set it apart from the competition.”

Shuttered consumer affairs show Fair Go was also recognised, collecting an award for Best Editorial Campaign or Project.

Local newspaper Hawkes Bay Today, was named Newspaper of the Year, with judges recognising its coverage of Cyclone Gabrielle, which devastated the newspaper’s community.

Editor of The Post and Sunday Star Times Tracy Watkins was honoured as Editorial Leader of the Year with judges noting Watkins had “shown exceptional leadership … the result has been that the audience for The Post has grown dramatically and it has established itself as a powerful voice in the Capital and beyond.”

Sunday magazine, which forms part of the Sunday Star Times, was named Best Newspaper Magazine, with judges describing it as a “breezy breakfast buffet … always with an eye for the trending issue, it's not afraid to wade into contentious debate”.

Newshub’s Paddy Gower Has Issues won Best Current Affairs Programme (shortform), while rivals TVNZ won Best Current Affairs Programme or Documentary (longform) by John Campbell, Andrew Dalton and Dallas Smith.

Best scoop was won by Andrea Vance from The Post for her coverage of former Justice Minister Kiri Allan’s relationship with her staff.

Judges said: “Andrea’s work stood out in an incredibly tough category due to her fearless storytelling and tenacity in getting a difficult story across … skewering a toxic parliamentary culture. A pure scoop with lasting impact.”

Veteran journalist Mike White, from The Post and Sunday Star Times, collected two awards, winning Sports Journalist of the Year and the Gordon McLauchlan Journalism Award, which recognises outstanding travel journalism.

The New Zealand Herald won two newspaper awards, Metropolitan Newspaper of the Year and Weekend Newspaper of the Year, while independent Northland community paper Mahurangi Matters won Community Newspaper of the Year.

Indira Stewart, from 1News, was awarded the Le Mana Pacific Award, while the Te Tohu Kairangi Award, was jointly awarded to Mihingarangi Forbes, from the Aotearoa Media Collective, Moana Maniapoto, from Whakaata Māori.

Newshub journalist Alexa Cook was named News Journalist of the Year, Stuff reporter Sam Sherwood picked up the Reporter of the Year award, Ellen Rykers from New Zealand Geographic won Feature Writer of the Year, Stuff visual journalist Lawrence Smith was named Video Journalist of the Year, NZME photographer Michael Craig picked up Photographer of the Year.

Also recognised were Stuff journalists: Chris Skelton (features photography), Iain McGregor (news photography), and Annemarie Quill (Local Journalist of the Year). TVNZ’s Jack Tame was named Political Journalist of the Year.

Industry outstanding achievement awards went to veteran journalists Martin van Beynen, Todd Niall and Mike Fletcher.

The Voyager Media Awards are run annually by the News Publishers Association.

For a full list of category winners go to: npa.co.nz/voyager-media-awards/