22 November 2008
Te Waha Nui wins Ossie for best newspaper
4 December 2005
SURFER’S PARADISE: Te Waha Nui, Auckland University of Technology's journalism newspaper, has won this year’s Ossie Award for best student publication (any medium) in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific – the paper’s second prize in a month.
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The two-year-old publication won against four finalists from Australia and Fiji. All were print publications, although some included online editions.
Judge Wendy Page, producer of ABC TV’s Australian Story, said two strong contenders made the judging difficult, but she opted for the “broad appeal” of Te Waha Nui.
“It provides good news stories and good features with broad appeal, and is well written,” she said.
“It’s clearly a huge commitment for student journalists to produce work of this calibre for a fortnightly publication.
“I think the standard is equal to, if not better than, many commercial newspapers.
“Te Waha Nui is not as glossy as some of the other publications, but the substance of the content won the day for me.”
Page highly commended a rival contender, The Point, a student-produced inner city community newspaper published by the University of Technology, Sydney.
Last month Te Waha Nui won the NZ Electoral Commission’s Wallace Award for political reporting during the general election.
The newspaper was edited this semester by Nicholas Moody and the course is led by AUT’s David Robie and Allan Lee. Robie coordinated two previous publications that have won Ossie Awards – Uni Tavur (University of Papua New Guinea) and Wansolwara (University of the South Pacific).
The Ossie Awards, organised by the Journalism Education Association (JEA), are named after the late Australian foreign correspondent Osmar White.
The Ossie for the best occasional publication award this year, also judged by Wendy Page, went to Queensland University of Technology’s kuRB.
“It is a fabulously polished, well-laid out publication which immediately catches the eye of the reader,” said Page.
“But it is backed up with well-written local news stories which would have appeal to many readers beyond the local community.”
UTS’s Queer Vertigo and Griffith University’s Online News Production were highly commended.
Other awards:
Best print news story:
Winner – Phil Han (University of Technology, Sydney)
Highly commended –
Erica Lee and Natasha Morell (University of the South Pacific)
Mereoni Vonosere (USP)
Best radio news story:
Winner – Sophie Gyles (UTS)
Best TV news story:
Winner – Jonathan Peeris and Saane Neilsen (RMIT)
Best print feature (undergraduate):
Winner – Michael Atkin (UTS)
Highly commended –
Iona Reto (Divine Word University, PNG)
Georgina Hartigan (Macleay College, Sydney)
Mick Daly (QUT)
Yuko Narushima (Charles Sturt University)
Best print feature (postgraduate):
Winner – David Swift (Macleay College)
Best photojournalism:
Winner – Christina Hermanstad (UTS)
Highly commended –
Tahly Stotzer (Edith Cowan University)
Carol Wiley (UTS)
Best radio current affairs (undergraduate):
Winner – Divine Word University (PNG)
Highly commended –
Adam McFarlane (University of Canberra)
Best TV current affairs (undergraduate):
Winner – Barry Hartono and Daniel Gerich (Griffith University)
Highly commended –
Caro Meldrum-Hanna and Amra Agovic (Griffith)
Best broadcast current affairs (postgraduate):
Winner (TV) – Barnaby Howarth (UTS)
Runner-up (radio) – Sarah Davies (Edith Cowan University)
Best story by an international student:
Winner – Laura Tenret (University of Western Sydney)
Hunter Institute Response Ability Prize:
Winner – Melanie Lees (University of Western Sydney)
Highly commended –
Catherine James and Christina Olsen (UTS)
Ben Lewis (RMIT)
Kelly Walton and Hadley Blue (University of Western Sydney)
