BusinessDesk wins big at journalism awards

NZSA business journalism award winners: BusinessDesk's Ella Somers and Cécile Meier with Nicholas Pointon and Tim Hunter. Photo / NZSA

NZME-owned BusinessDesk took home three awards at last night’s New Zealand Shareholders Association Business Journalism Awards from a record number of entries.

Investigative reporter Cécile Meier received the news award for her work on the Ministry of Health’s Te Whatu Ora’s consultant spend.

Ella Somers, who joined BusinessDesk in 2021 as part of a cadetship programme funded by NZ On Air, won the emerging journalist of the year award.

Her winning portfolio included an exclusive on NZ Sugar facing criminal charges, an analysis of The Warehouse’s online marketplace and the resignation of Sanford director Peter Cullinane.

It is the third year in a row that BusinessDesk has taken home this award, with Riley Kennedy and Dan Brunskill winning in previous years.

‘Strong business media’

Former BusinessDesk and National Business Review journalist Jenny Ruth won joint columnist of the year for her work on Ryman Healthcare.

Other nominees from the BusinessDesk team included editor Pattrick Smellie and investigative reporter Murray Jones, who was nominated for feature writer of the year, and recently returned markets reporter Rebecca Stevenson, who was nominated for her work while at Interest.co.nz.

The overall winner was Nicholas Pointon of the NBR, who took out the feature writer category.

Other nominees included Newsroom’s Jonathan Milne (news) and NBR co-editor Hamish McNicol (commentary).

“BusinessDesk is thrilled to have taken home so many awards in this prestigious competition,” Smellie said.

“I’m particularly proud that BusinessDesk is being consistently recognised for its support for young and emerging business journalists.

“Our three-peat in this category reflects the ongoing hard work our senior reporting staff put into harnessing young talent.”

NZ Shareholders Association chief executive Oliver Mander said: “New Zealand investment markets have a vested interest in ensuring that business journalism becomes relevant to the millions of KiwiSaver investors and hundreds of thousands of Sharesies investors across the country.”

He added: “We need a strong business media as part of a business ecosystem that creates transparency and holds leaders to account.”