Herald picked as best daily and best website

The New Zealand Herald has been named the country's best daily metropolitan newspaper.

And the Herald's online news service nzherald.co.nz was declared best website from a field of 34, at the annual Qantas media awards in Auckland last night.

Assistant editor John Roughan won the supreme individual award, the Qantas Fellowship to Wolfson College, Cambridge.

Overall, Herald staff and contributors won 21 awards and 15 individuals were finalists.

The Australian-based newspaper judges said the Herald was their newspaper of choice in this country for its all-round content, presentation and strength in regional, national, international, business and sport news. It "remains reader friendly".

The UK based judge of the online award said nzherald.co.nz was a clear winner, being "rich in content, wide in coverage and bright and easy to use".

The newspaper of the year award, for which the Herald was a grand finalist, went to the Sunday Star-Times, the winner of the best weekly paper title.

Best small daily paper was the Bay of Plenty Times.

The reporter of the year was Yvonne Martin of the Press, feature writer was Anthony Hubbard of the Sunday Star-Times, columnist was Joanne Black of the Dominion Post and photographer was Phil Reid of the Dominion Post.

Herald awards ranged across news, feature and column writing and cartooning.

As well as the Wolfson Fellowship, John Roughan won the awards for best editorial writer and general columnist and was a finalist as best columnist.

Hamilton-based reporter Ainsley Thomson was a finalist for best junior reporter for the second year in a row.

Our new editorial cartoonist, Rod Emmerson, won the top award with his first entry into the Qantas competition — the second consecutive year the Herald has won this category.

Science writer Simon Collins won for the second consecutive year both the news and feature writing awards for science and technology.

Another double winner was Weekend Herald reporter Catherine Masters, whose front page revelations about mistreatment of a blind boy at a special school in Manurewa won her the news award for social issues — and an investigation into pollution in Kaitaia won best environment and conservation feature.

Rebecca Walsh won for a health story about a woman who caught fire during labour. Review writer Geoff Cumming and IT editor Peter Griffin won feature writing honours, while arts editor Linda Herrick and writer Graham Reid were finalists.

Artist Zak Waipara was a finalist in editorial graphics and photographers Greg Bowker and Alan Gibson were finalists in best single picture categories. Contributing photographers Amos Chapple and Bradley Ambrose were junior finalists.

As well as Roughan, Herald columnists to shine were Jim Hopkins (winner of best humour), Graham Reid (best arts) and former contributor Barbara Sumner Burstyn (best social issues and a finalist for overall column). Political correspondent John Armstrong and former IT editor Chris Barton were finalists in column writing.

The Herald was a finalist for the best editorial project for the community — for our appeal which raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Middlemore Hospital plastic surgery microscope after a dog attack on Auckland girl Carolina Anderson.

Our Weekend Herald colour magazine, canvas, won strong recognition with three cover stories winning best feature awards and three other finalist nominations. Staff reporter Angela Gregory won best health and medicine feature for her chronicle of a burned boy's battle through treatment. A finalist in that category was Suzanne McFadden's story about Herald staffer Pauline Murphy's heart transplant.

McFadden, a former Herald sports writer now freelancing, also won best sports feature for a cover story on Ali Williams. And canvas writer Eleanor Black won best arts feature for her cover piece on Emma Paki. canvas editor Carroll du Chateau and deputy Jan Corbett were finalists in feature writing categories.

Qantas Media Awards