We Say – Blowing our own biro

On May 27, several staff from Mahurangi Matters put on their glad rags and beat a path to the annual Voyager Media Awards in Auckland. These national awards celebrate excellence in New Zealand journalism and this year was an extra special occasion because it marked the event’s 50th anniversary. It was also a special occasion for this newspaper, as we were one of the finalists in the Community Newspaper of the Year category.

We were up against a strong field from across NZ and sadly, we did not win. That well-deserved honour went to the Ashburton Guardian, a tri-weekly newspaper that has been printing since the late 1800s.

But we were named runners-up, and we think being singled out as the second-best community newspaper in NZ isn’t a bad achievement.

While the major stories captured the limelight – reports from the war in the Ukraine, the Wellington protests and the Black Ferns win at the Rugby World Cup – there was a recurring acknowledgement of the importance of hyper-local reporting, the stories that tell us what is happening on the ground in our communities.

The appetite for news that can be trusted has never been stronger, but unfortunately, when people think “media” they often don’t differentiate between the news stories produced by trained and experienced journalists, and opinion pieces that populate many of the larger news sites, the posts they see on social media or advertorial written to please an advertiser. It was good to be in the company of fellow professionals who are dedicated to their craft, showing innovation in delivering stories through multimedia platforms.

The Ashburton Guardian, like Mahurangi Matters, has started to encourage its readers to support its journalism through an online membership programme. We are grateful to the people who have already signed up to our Premium subscription package. Thank you for your support, which means we can continue to bring the Mahurangi district the sort of news service it deserves.