Celebrations at newspaper awards

Our newspaper had a bit of celebrating to do on Friday night, when our name was called twice at the Community Newspaper Association awards for winning the Best Junior News Journalist category and coming runner-up Best Feature/Supplement.

The awards are hotly contested each year by staff from the CNA’s more than 80 member publications.

The youngest member of the King Country News editorial team, Brianna Stewart, took home Best Junior News Journalist with a winning portfolio of five articles.

They included two pieces about the missing Marokopa children; an ode to Ōtorohanga icon Karam Haddad; coverage of an online gossip ring set up by local school students; and reporting of the community’s concern after a school student using a pedestrian crossing was hit by a car.

Brianna was unable to attend the awards ceremony in person, but she was stoked to hear that she had won.

“I put a lot of heart into every story I write and it was great to know that the judges could see that reflected in my work,” she said.

“I don’t know if I’ve been here long enough after two years to be able to call the King Country my community, but I’m proud to represent yours.

“The disappearance of Jayda, Maverick and Ember Phillips has weighed heavily on my mind since they went missing, and I want to take the opportunity to remind everyone that they still have not been found.

“It has been a year and a half with no answers for their family.

“If anyone has any information that could help find them, please get in touch with the police.”

King Country News also celebrated the recognition of its Te Rangiwaituhi/Hikaka ki runga, Hikaka ki raro tabloid as runner-up in the Best Feature/Supplement category.

General manager Sam Baggott, who was a driving force in making the feature happen, said it was projects like this that made her love her job.

“Because it’s for our iwi and our people.

“If we don’t share our kōrero or our stories with the next generation, then those stories are lost forever.

“It was an honour to work alongside so many key people from the community to get it off the ground and allow us to create it, to tell the stories and celebrate Te Tokanganui a Noho – our whare tūpuna.

“Our in-house team were all passionate about making this the best it could be.”

What the judges had to say:

Best Feature/Supplement: Runner- up – Te Rangiwaituhi/Hikaka ki runga, Hikaka ki raro, King Country News

A significant publication to commemorate the settlement of the Treaty for local iwi. Well documented history and plans for the future. This will be a collectors’ item.

Best Junior News Journalist: Winner – Brianna Stewart, King Country News

Brianna’s portfolio was the standout. It was as broad as it was deep, showing a reporter connected to their community and willing to go the extra mile to get a story.

There was a pleasing mix of hard and soft news. She gave the same care and attention to stories about the disappearance of Tom Phillips and his three children – a national story – as she did to the death of Ōtorohanga identity Karam Haddad.

I appreciated Brianna’s use of reported speech high up in a story to set the scene, before heading into quotes.

Our sister publication, The Whakatane Beacon, was also hard at work creating award-winning content last year.

The team’s work was recognised by them winning the Best Feature/Supplement category with Whakatane Mill Anniversary Celebration and jointly winning the Best Community Involvement category with Onepu Community Park.