Rotorua Daily Post and senior journalist Kelly Makiha finalists in Voyager Media Awards

Rotorua Daily Post.

The Rotorua Daily Post has been named a finalist for Regional Newspaper of the Year in the 2023 Voyager Media Awards.

It is one of three nominations for the newsroom with journalist Kelly Makiha nominated for Regional Journalist of the Year and the paper’s Fighting for Rotorua series nominated for best editorial campaign/project.

The Rotorua Daily Post’s sister newsroom Bay of Plenty Times is also nominated for Regional Newspaper of the year and Ethan Griffiths, an Open Justice Reporter based in the Bay of Plenty Times newsroom last year, is nominated for Junior Reporter of the Year and Best individual investigation for The prosecution of Jayden Meyer.

NZME Bay of Plenty regional editor Scott Inglis said he was blown away by the result.

”It’s a testament to the great work put in by the staff across the region both as individuals and as a team.”

He said Makiha’s nomination reflected the amazing work she had done year around but especially her coverage of emergency housing.

“Kelly always writes quality, insightful journalism and has played a key part in keeping the Rotorua community informed. Her nomination is well-deserved.”

It is the third year in a row the Rotorua Daily Post has been a finalist in the awards. It was nominated and won in 2021 and was nominated in 2022.The Bay of Plenty Times was also nominated in 2021.

Fighting for Rotorua was launched on November 5 in response to our continued coverage of the emergency housing situation in Rotorua.

Throughout the campaign we spoke with occupants,  covered the resource consent hearings, featured opinion pieces, investigated the living conditions of some motels and revealed the struggles of people living in motels. The coverage revealed the devastating impact it was having on the city.

Kelly Makiha has been a journalist in the Rotorua newsroom for more than 25 years.

Stories covered in the Rotorua Daily Post’s submitted editions included coverage of the funding debate surrounding “miracle drug” Trikafta, a secret council proposal to turn 10 reserves into housing and a controversial proposed governance model.

The nominations are among more than 50 picked up by the Rotorua Daily Post and Bay of Plenty Times’ publisher NZME. NZME’s nominations are across various categories including editorial, photography, digital and podcasting, as well as being finalists in a number of team, regional and national categories.

The NZ Herald and Weekend Herald are up for best daily newspaper and best weekly newspaper respectively, nzherald.co.nz is a finalist for Website of the Year and NZ Herald for App of the Year. The Herald has won both awards for each of the past three years.

“The breadth of nominations speaks volumes about the talent across NZME and the super work of our newsrooms,” acting managing editor Murray Kirkness said.

The winners will be announced at an awards evening in Auckland on May 27.