The Wairarapa Times-Age won Best Regional Newspaper at Saturday night’s Voyager Media awards. From left: Tom Taylor, Emily Ireland, Andrew Denholm, Mary Argue, Bevan Wills. PHOTO/SMOKE.CO.NZ
The Wairarapa Times-Age has won the regional paper of the year award at the Voyager Media awards for the first time.
The Times-Age was up for three awards at the celebration hosted in Auckland on Saturday night.
Emily Ireland, the Times-Age’s former news director, was nominated for the best local government reporting award, and former chief reporter Tom Taylor was nominated for best headline.
News director Roger Parker said the paper had been a finalist many times over the years, which was also a notable achievement, but to win the award for the first time was very special.
“It’s a pat on the back for everyone at Chapel St and acknowledges the effort and skill they bring to work every day.
“Last year was extremely challenging, for all the obvious reasons, so to get recognition for our news coverage from our peers is a real boost as we head into the region’s local body elections.
“I’m looking forward to putting the trophy in a prominent place in my office,’’ he said.
Ireland said she was proud of the team who worked in the Times-Age newsroom during 2021 and helped contribute to some eye-catching publications.
“Journalism is often a thankless job but our team remains passionate about delivering high-quality news to the region.
“To be recognised on a national level for our work makes me so proud of the team I led last year and so proud of the team led by Roger that also brought this award home. Bring on next year.”
Times-Age publisher Andrew Denholm said it was a massive undertaking for a small team to put out the paper each day.
“I want to thank each and every member of the Times-Age family and each department for the hard work during 2021 that led to this moment.”
