New Zealander of the Year 2019

Eva McGauley was a fighter.

She fought for a better world, selflessly throwing all of her energy into stopping sexual violence and supporting survivors.

The young Wellingtonian became a member of the Wellington Rape Crisis centre at 13, and later raised more than $70,000 for a sexual abuse assistance programme, and even set up her own charity Eva's Wish.

But while she spent much of her life fighting for others, she had an even bigger battle of her own.

When Eva was 15, she was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a rare type of head and neck cancer. It was terminal.

Rather than let her illness define her, the Wellington teen continued to fight for others, continuing her charity and advocacy work, and in doing so becoming an inspiration in New Zealand and around the world.

In May she had travelled to New York where she attended an exhibition as one of the subjects of the book 200 Women: Who Will Change the Way You See the World.

She appeared alongside New Zealand national sexual violence survivor advocate Louise Nicholas, who called her a “hero”.

Eva had been nominated this year in the youth category for Wellingtonian of the Year, and also met Prince Harry and Meghan during their recent royal tour of New Zealand.

This year even she started a Bachelor of Arts majoring in political science at Victoria University.

In November Eva lost her cancer battle, but she won a war, inspiring a generation to carry on fighting sexual violence and supporting survivors.

Eva’s mum Kate Hardwick said her daughter would have been thrilled at the nomination.

“I am really proud, slightly in awe, of Eva. She knew who she was, and what she wanted.

“She was able to translate that into action, and because of her skills and the networks she built, she was actually able to do something, to walk the walk.

“Everybody who knew her, misses her.”

Anne-Marie Brady never intended to be in the limelight. And then the burglaries began.

A professor of Chinese politics at the University of Canterbury, over the past decades she'd quietly built up an international reputation as one of the world's leading expert in Chinese propaganda.

She gained public notice in September last year with the publication of her paper "Magic Weapons," illustrating a nexus of party donations and board appointments linking China's United Front Work Department and New Zealand political figures.

The paper put Brady at the centre of the defining global question of the age - What does the rise of China mean for the world? - and she's since been flown to Ottawa, Washington DC, London, and further afield, to discuss her findings.

That paper also seems to have attracted unwanted attention, with first visits to China in late 2017 seeing her hotel room being interfered and sources harassed by staff from the ministry of state security.

Then, in February, and within the space of two days, her home and office on campus in Christchurch were both ransacked. Material related to her research - computers, phones, storage devices - were taken in burglaries that seemed intentionally unsubtle.

Reached this week, Brady said the attention and resulting publicity had made for an uncomfortable ride, but that she was now left feeling optimistic.

"It's been 18 months and it's been, wow, how can I put this: It was really overwhelming at first, and really scary," she said.

It was only by her going public in February that authorities took seriously her concerns that these burglaries may not be petty crimes.

After Police initially closed the case within days citing a lack of evidence, what began as a simple review of a suburban burglary in Christchurch has since sprawled into a multi-agency investigation that has spanned ten months and counting and involves the police, the NZSIS and Interpol.

Given the involvement of the latter two agencies, her suspicions the events were directed offshore, in response to her work, seems justified.

Brady said being named a finalist for New Zealander of the Year was important, and gratefully received.

"Oh gosh yes. I've been so touched and overwhelmed by the amazing support I've received from New Zealanders in all sorts of roles," she said.

And, once her life began to resemble a Le Carre novel did she ever consider quieting down? "Of course not. All I'm doing is my job - and I haven't deviated from that."

Quinton Hita's face might be best known from his days on Shortland Street, but his lasting legacy will be his leading role in the on-screen renaissance of Maori language and culture.

This year, his company Kura Productions has made the conversation-provoking documentary on suicide Maui's Hook and the ground-breaking bilingual drama series Ahikaroa, which has already been commissioned for a second season. Like all Kura's shows, they have Maori development at their core.

"I get into trouble sometimes because people assume that for me it's all about the love of film and television, but I'm quite honest about the fact that I'm passionate about Maori development and I'm not particularly fussed if I'm able to do that in the health sector, the education sector or the media sector."

He sees his primary role as nurturing young people, being a role model and acting as kaitakawaenga - mediator - between the liberal and traditional sides of Maoridom.

When he talks about his year's successes, his focus is as much on his work as chair of his children's kura kaupapa and of his marae, Okorihi, as it is on his more high profile screen work.

"Although the television aspect of it is important, it's a tool," he says. "And part of a much richer tapestry of culture."

Not only was 2018 the biggest year of Rose Matafeo's comedy career so far, but it marked one of New Zealand's greatest achievements in comedy on the world stage. 

Matafeo was this year's recipient of the Edinburgh Comedy Award at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, a prestigious honour that has made stars of comedians such as Hannah Gadsby,  Steve Coogan and Dylan Moran. 

She's the first Kiwi to win, the first Pacific Islander, the first person of colour to win solo and only the fifth woman to win in the award's 37-year history.

"This year has felt like a weird dream," says Matafeo. "Incredibly surreal and wonderful and long and stressful and exciting. 

"The Edinburgh thing still feels unreal most of the time, like someone is going to email me soon and explain how it was a prank that got out of hand and they'd like me to send it back.

"My plans for 2019 are to make a bunch of cool things for TV and film and keep writing and performing stand up. I'd like to make a zine and hopefully crochet a jumper and maybe take some Italian lessons. It's the year I want to upskill, or at least have some fallback options when comedy doesn't work out."

A tragic drowning at Waimarama Beach could have been a triple fatal had it not been for a brave teenager who put the lives of others before his own.

It was a Sunday in January when 16-year-old Cameron McCallum and his friends were taking their last dip of the day when they were alerted to someone in distress in deep water beyond the surf break.

With that in mind he and his friend, both without lifeguard training, swam out.

"My mate stopped because he can't swim that far. But I went out there and I saw the guy was having trouble carrying his wife - she was completely submerged, he was just holding her arm.

"I grabbed her and pulled her closer to him, then tried to keep him above water. It looked like she was already gone."

It was a gruelling 5 minutes of treading water trying to keep the two afloat before a surfer came and plucked the woman out of the water onto his surfboard.

He stayed with the man, trying to keep his head above water until two more surfers arrived with boards.

"One of them grabbed the guy. I was still there, but I was completely dead - it felt like I was going to give way. One gave me his surfboard and I came to shore and lay down."