Herald on Sunday named best Sunday paper

Richard Robinson's award-winning photo of a Humpback Whale calf off the coast of the Vava'u Island group in the Kingdom of Tonga. Photo / Richard Robinson

The Herald on Sunday is celebrating after being named the Sunday newspaper of the year at the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers' Association (Panpa) Awards.

The APN-owned newspaper also won the best environment campaign award for its feature series called "Cleaning up New Zealand's beaches".

Herald on Sunday editor Bryce Johns said the triumph, over some of Australia and the Asia-Pacific's biggest and best papers, was wonderful recognition for the newspaper's staff and readers.

"This year we relaunched the paper with a new design, new columnists and new content. We paid close attention to how our readers live their lives, looking to provide them with the information, ideas and inspiration to improve their homes and neighbourhoods," he said.

"That has been a tremendous success, and our readers have been telling their friends and families just how good the Herald on Sunday is now. And last night, our peers in the newspaper industry offered the same recognition in awarding us this prize.

"We're humbled and grateful."

Another APN newspaper, The Rotorua Daily Post, took out two awards: Newspaper of the Year (up to 10,000) which they shared with the Shepparton News, and Portrait of the Year, which went to Stephen Parker.

New Zealand Herald photographer Richard Robinson claimed the award for National/Metropolitan Features Photograph of the Year for his photo called The Great Migration.

Image 1 of 4: Megaptera novaeangliae (Humpback Whale) calf off the coast of the Vava'u Island group in the Kingdom of Tonga. Photo / Richard Robinson

And the website nzherald.co.nz was a finalist for best Metropolitan/National News Website, which was won by News SA.

The full APN NZ award list is:

TEAM RECOGNITION:

* Herald on Sunday, Sunday Newspaper of the Year
* Rotorua Daily Post, Daily Newspaper of Year (tied with Shepparton), up to 10,000 circulation
* The New Zealand Herald, winner major newspaper marketing category (circulation 90,000+) for the successful NZH compact launch campaign
* Herald on Sunday, winner environmental journalism category for its beaches campaign
* The Bay of Plenty Times, marketing excellence in 10-25k circulation, new look Wednesday editions.
* The Bay of Plenty Times, best advertising feature or supplement in 10/25k circulation for the 140th anniversary feature.
* NZM digital team for best dedicated digital environment for a client, the Mercedes One to Watch campaign

INDIVIDUAL RECOGNITION:

* Janine Davy, Advertising Manager/Director of the Year - advertising manager, Rotorua Daily Post
* Sarah Dyer, Classified Sales Executive of the Year - real estate account manager, New Zealand Herald
* Richard Robinson, national/metropolitan features photographer of the year for his great whale migration photo essay.
* Stephen Parker, portrait of the year, Regionals for his portrait "Stolen"

Read a full list of the Panpa winners here.

- nzherald.co.nz