Business And Financial Journalism Awards

Nick Stride has taken out the top honours in the WestpacTrust Business and Financial Journalism Awards winning the Print Feature Award and the Overall Winner’s Award.

Nick’s winning work was an account of the decline in fortunes and eventual sale of New Zealand baker Ernest Adams, which featured in September’s Unlimited magazine. The winners each receive a prize of $1500 plus another $1500 for the overall winner. Other category winners were:

Print News Award Deborah Hill of National Business Review
Print Columnist Award First equal Bob Edlin, The Independent and Mark Fryer, New Zealand Herald
Television Award Rod Vaughan and Ian Garner, Assignment

Judges Jim Tully, the head of Canterbury University’s Journalism Department, and Sue Suckling, a board member of WestpacTrust Investments Limited and the New Zealand Dairy Board, said: “It was pleasing to see more than 50 entries reflecting the expanding and highly competitive business and financial journalism market in New Zealand, which caters for a diverse audience across print and broadcast media.

“We believe the WestpacTrust Business and Financial Journalism Awards serve an important function in recognising excellence and encouraging higher standards in an area of journalism where there is a vital need for quality reporting and intelligent analysis.

“However, it was disappointing that no entries were received in the radio category and the number of television entries was small and restricted to one network. We hope more broadcast journalists will enter next year.”

WestpacTrust is the New Zealand division of Westpac Banking Corporation, which is incorporated in New South Wales, Australia

Commenting on the winners, the judges said: “In Nick Stride’s entry, the unsuccessful restructuring of Ernest Adams was outlined in depth with fluent, lively writing that carried the reader along to the end.

“Deborah Hill’s entry was a genuine front page lead story on the IRD and transfer pricing. It was supported by a well researched backgrounder that made sense of a complex issue for the reader. The stories were crisp, clear and accessible - which is the hallmark of good news writing.

“We couldn’t separate Bob Edlin and Mark Fryer. They took different approaches for different audiences but both communicated effectively. Bob skilfully guided the reader interested in economics through competing political interpretations of trade figures, while Mark simply and directly gave prospective investors practical, accessible advice on making tax-efficient decisions.

“The Assignment documentary “Celtic Tiger”, entered by Rod Vaughan and Ian Garner, used the emergence of the strong Irish economy to suggest lessons that could be learned by New Zealand politicians and policymakers. It was well researched and well crafted, and highly accessible to a general audience.”

WestpacTrust public relations manager Jane Anderson said: “I’m delighted by the selections of the judges. We created the WestpacTrust Business and Financial Journalism Awards because we want to encourage excellence in business and financial journalism. The worlds of business and finance impact on all of us, whether it is news about business developments, interest rates, the sharemarket or exchange rates. And quality journalism is important to our customers, who rely on the media for much of their information. The standard of the entries and winners shows the public is well served by New Zealand journalism.”

ENDS

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