RNZ features strongly in the 2021 Voyager Media Awards with a number of finalists including for news website of the year.
Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
The annual awards celebrate the very best in print, digital and broadcast journalism on all media platforms across New Zealand.
This year the awards have a total of 280 finalists across 66 awards and the judges said they were impressed by the high calibre of entries put forward.
The winners will be announced on 28 May at an event the Auckland Town Hall.
Digital
RNZ and Vanishing Point Studio are finalists in the 'Best innovation in digital storytelling' section with Game Change: NZ's burgeoning video game industry.
Black Sheep, a podcast about the "shady, controversial and sometimes downright villainous characters of New Zealand history" is a finalist in the 'Best podcast - episodic/recurrent' section.
Bird of Paradise and RNZ have two finalists in the 'Best podcast - narrative/serial' section: Getting Better - A Year in the Life of a Māori Medical Student and The Service: The state, secrets and spies.
RNZ.co.nz is a finalist in the 'News Website of the Year' section.
Feature Writing
Guyon Espiner is a finalist in the 'Best feature writing - crime and justice' section for his article Gassed in their cells, begging for food at Auckland Women's Prison. Espiner is also a 'Feature Writer of the Year (long-form)' finalist.
Veronica Schmidt is a finalist in the 'Best first-person essay or feature' section for her piece I was filmed in a Kmart changing cubicle.
Photography
Claire Eastham-Farrelly is a finalist in the 'Best photography - features, including portraits, fashion, food and architecture' section.
Reporting
RNZ has two finalists in the Best editorial campaign or project section: Checkpoint with Air New Zealand refunds; and the Here We Are series dealing with living with mental distress as a trans, gender diverse or non-binary person in Aotearoa.
Guyon Espiner is a finalist for SIS Secrets Revealed in the 'Best individual investigation' section.
RNZ is a finalist in the 'Best team investigation' section with NZ First donations.
Alison Ballance, host of Our Changing World, is a finalist in the 'Best reporting - environment' section.
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui is finalist for 'Best reporting - Māori affairs'.
There are three RNZ finalists in the 'Best reporting - social issues, including health and education section': Checkpoint's Nita Blake-Persen and Lisa Owen as well as Susan Strongman. Strongman is also a finalist in the 'Science Journalist of the Year' section.
RNZ's Taranaki/Whanganui reporter Robin Martin is a finalist for 'Regional Journalist of the Year', while Ella Stewart and Louise Ternouth are finalists in the 'Student Journalist of the Year' section.
Charlotte Cook, Te Aniwa Hurihanganui and Mackenzie Smith have all been nominated for 'Junior Reporter of the Year'.
Video
RNZ has two finalists in the 'Best feature video section': Nick Munro with Boy with disability living in garage, family waits on Housing NZ and Claire Eastham-Farrelly with Generation Next: Mez & Mahlete.
