Sarah Daniell, Editor of Canvas – the weekend’s Premium Magazine, loves to push the envelope and champion diversity through story-telling.
I’m Sarah Daniell, Editor of Canvas, NZME's flagship weekend Premium magazine. I cut my teeth in London, at the New Barnet Press and later the newspapers of Fleet Street and Wapping. In Wellington I was a sub-editor, feature writer, Op Ed columnist and travel editor. I've worked in all areas of media, including magazine feature writing, radio, television - presenting, reporting, researching and producing - including the fairly harrowing launch of Seven Sharp - the current affairs and entertainment show at TVNZ - and managed to stay there two years as a story producer. In 2015, I joined the weekend magazines team at the NZ Herald. In July 2019 I led the design and editorial team to relaunch the merged Weekend magazine and Canvas. It is one of the most satisfying achievements of my career and involved a comprehensive re-design and campaign. On the side, I've worked in theatre, film and TV and as a voice over actor, but my love is in telling stories. No matter how the media landscape changes, that never does. I like to push the envelope and champion diversity. I am most passionate about working with my colleagues on a vision or project starting from the ground up. An example would be the Postcard Project, which celebrated its 125th anniversary of Suffrage in September 2018. It was a creative and tricky logistical challenge. Our national museum, Te Papa, now holds these postcards, for posterity. Another was the Auckland City Mission Taste of Kindness project.