‘Excellent’: NZ Herald reigns supreme at Voyager Media Awards – Website of the Year and News App of the Year for third consecutive year

It’s a triple!

The NZ Herald reigned supreme at the annual Voyager Media Awards, winning both marquee digital awards – Website of the Year and News App of the Year – as well as a host of team and individual winners .

It’s the third year in a row that the Herald website and app have won the acclaimed “digital double” at New Zealand’s biggest journalism night of the year.

Category judges praised the Herald’s “breadth of content and depth of writing”, saying readers were spoiled for choice. The app’s usability and display were also “top notch”.

“This is a site with access to premium resources and knows how to use them for maximum impact. Special series like Inflation Nation and respected columnists really set them apart.”

The celebrations didn’t stop there for the Herald and NZME – the Weekend Herald was named Weekly Newspaper of the Year and Canvas Magazine was voted Best Newspaper Magazine, at a black-tie event attended by over 600 people at the Cordis Hotel in Auckland.

The Herald’s 90% project, which has helped keep New Zealanders safe during the Covid pandemic, was judged co-winner for best editorial campaign. The project had already won worldwide recognition at the annual INMA awards in June.

And NZME’s special series on dementia, The Brains Trust, won Best Documentary.

Among the NZ Herald’s individual big winners was Hamish Fletcher, who was named Editor of the Year. “Hamish demonstrates a deep concern for his team and its success, but also a genuine love of journalism and the impact it can have,” the judges said.

The Herald’s Simon Wilson was named Feature Writer of the Year (short-form) and Brett Phibbs was judged Photographer of the Year. Wilson also won Best First-Person Essay.

NZME Editor-in-Chief Shayne Currie praised the work of NZME’s journalists and digital and product teams.

“Winning the two biggest digital awards for three consecutive years is nothing short of phenomenal,” said Currie. “These three years have marked an extraordinary period of news. To be judged the best in New Zealand during this period is a tribute to the wonderful talent and dedication of our editorial teams – and to the quality and trusted journalism that they produce every day.”

Jamie Morton was named Best Science Reporter, Jared Savage Best Crime Reporter, Rotorua Daily Post’s Felix Desmarais was named Best Local Government Reporter and Steve Braunias Best Arts and Culture Reporter. John Cowpland was voted best sports photographer.

The Herald also won the hotly contested Best Data Journalism category, acknowledging the work of Chris McDowall and Keith Ng.

NZME CEO Michael Boggs congratulated all finalists and winners. He said NZME’s double win in the two hotly contested digital categories demonstrated the strength of the company’s digital platforms.

“At NZME, our teams have worked hard to diversify our platforms with an emphasis on digital, ensuring that our trusted, quality content is available to as wide an audience as possible. recently hit 100,000 paid digital subscriptions in June, we know having a world-class digital offering is critical to ensuring the long-term future and sustainability of our newsrooms and news platforms. usability and viewing the Herald app as ‘top notch’ was fantastic to hear,” he said.

NZME-owned BusinessDesk – as well as being a finalist for Website of the Year – was also part of the winner’s circle, with journalist Jem Traylen named best student journalist.

The Herald’s Matt Nippert, Tom Dillane, Kurt Bayer and Phibbs were finalists in the specialist reporting, writing and photography categories.

Other winners of the evening included The Press in Christchurch, which won the overall Newspaper of the Year award, and Stuff’s Kirsty Johnston, winner of the Journalist of the Year award.