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Rnz takes home several top voyager media awards.

RNZ won several awards at this year's Voyager honours, including for Guyon Espiner and Lydia Lewis' work. Photo: RNZ

RNZ was honoured with several top honours for its journalism at the 50th annual Voyager Media Awards on Saturday night.

RNZ's Guyon Espiner won Feature Writer of the Year (Short-Form) for his work.

RNZ Pacific reporter Lydia Lewis won the Le Mana Pacific Award for her coverage of Pacific issues.

Farah Hancock won best reporting, environment for her work including The Dirty Truth About The Waikato River .

The Newsroom and RNZ co-production The Detail was the joint winner of the best original podcast - ongoing/episodic award, going to Sharon Brettkelly, Emile Donovan, Sarah Robson, Bonnie Harrison, and Mark Jennings.

RNZ had a total of 14 finalists in this year's Voyager Media Awards.

The New Zealand Media Awards have celebrated excellence in New Zealand journalism since 1973. Originally known as the Qantas Press Awards, then the Canon Media Awards, Voyager Internet has been the premier sponsor since 2018.

The awards are managed and promoted by the News Publishers' Association which champions the news media industry of New Zealand.

The awards are held annually to encourage, showcase and acknowledge the best of New Zealand's news media across all platforms.

More on this year's winners can be found on the News Publishers' Association website.

Copyright © 2023 , Radio New Zealand

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John Campbell, Kristin Hall win at Voyager Media Awards

When Covid-19 hit hard, Rotorua’s famous gateway, the motels of Fenton St, went from holiday to emergency housing. (Source: 1News)

The 2023 Voyager Media Awards proved to be a big night for TVNZ journalists, with eight wins secured in key categories.

TVNZ Chief Correspondent John Campbell and Sunday's Kristin Hall both won major awards.

Campbell's in-depth interview with Peter Ellis conducted days before his death was named 'Best Scoop', while Hall was named 'Broadcast Reporter of the Year' with her investigation into emergency housing in Rotorua cited.

Sunday was once again awarded 'Current Affairs Programme of the Year'. Te Karere and 1News' coverage of the Parliament protests was named 'Breaking News Video' of the year.

Campbell interviewed Ellis just days before his death in 2019. (Source: Sunday)

Not to be outdone, Re: News took out four wins, including 'Best News, Current Affairs or Specialist Publication'.

Baz MacDonald won 'Best Video Journalist' for his compelling portfolio of work. The Re: team also scooped an award for 'Best Original Podcast' for their nuanced insight into the justice system across 5-episodes in True Justice. 'Best Documentary Series' was also awarded to the team for Still Here, an emotive look at Pasifika history in Auckland's gentrified inner suburbs.

Phil O'Sullivan, TVNZ's Executive Editor - News and Current Affairs, said: "It's been a huge year for our news and current affairs teams and it's fantastic to see our journalists have their hard-work and commitment recognised by their peers. I'd like to congratulate TVNZ's winners and finalists and thank them all for the powerful reporting they have delivered to New Zealanders across the year."

Category Winners

Best original podcast - Popsock Media, JustSpeak, Re: News for True Justice

Best breaking news video - 1News and Te Karere, Parliament protest breaking coverage

Best video documentary series – Re: News, Still Here

Current Affairs Programme of the Year - Sunday

Video Journalist of the Year - Baz Macdonald

Broadcast Reporter of the Year, Current Affairs - Kristin Hall

Best scoop (single news story) - John Campbell, Peter Ellis exclusive interview

Best news, current affairs or specialist publication – Re: News

Category Runner Ups

Best breaking news video – Thomas Mead, Pegasus Beach fire

Best individual investigation – Thomas Mead, "Young and Bullied", an investigation into Ashburton College

Best reporting – general – Tania Page

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Newshub wins several top honours at 2024 Voyager Media Awards

Newshub has taken several of the top categories at the annual Voyager Media Awards in Auckland.

The awards are bittersweet, coming six weeks to the day before the newsroom closes down on July 5.

Investigations Correspondent Michael Morrah and camera operator Nick Estelrich won the prestigious prize for Best Coverage of a Major News Event, for their reporting on the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle.

The judges said: "Michael Morrah managed to reach some of the most isolated communities devastated by Cyclone Gabrielle and stayed with the story, revealing authorities had information that should have triggered evacuation notices nine hours before people had to be rescued from rooftops. They said his investigative journalism moved the Government and distinguished his entry from others featuring fine reporting of the impact of the year's worst natural disaster."

Alexa Cook from Newshub's Wellington bureau won News Journalist of the Year.

The judges said her portfolio showcased classic news coverage of fast-breaking stories, enterprising solutions to technical and logistical challenges and real insight within the stories presented as well-written and produced stories.

Cook's Auckland Newshub colleague Nick Truebridge was runner-up in the same category.

A story about bullying and mobile phones by the Paddy Gower Has Issues programme won the Best Current Affairs (short) category.

The Voyager judges said the story "zeroed in on a contemporary issue which was confrontational for every parent and relevant to every child. It showcased the power of raw video and a young victim's voice, layered with solid research, diverse angles, and craftsmanship. Gritty and powerful, the programme's call to ban cell phones in schools preceded a change in New Zealand legislation."

Newshub's Interim Head of News Richard Sutherland has paid tribute to the winners.

"The common thread running through their work is passion, determination, and a commitment to look at the big issues that have an impact on all our lives," he said.

"These reporters and their stories are emblematic of the work of Newshub since it came into being as 3 National News back in 1989."

"I'm so proud of them, and everyone at Newshub, who continue to show an outstanding commitment to their profession and their audiences, during what has been an incredibly stressful time for themselves and their colleagues."

Newshub's owner, Warner Bros. Discovery, confirmed in April that it would close Newshub as part of a wider restructuring of its New Zealand television business.

Newshub's final bulletin will air on Three on Friday 5 July. It is being replaced by a new 6pm programme that will be produced by digital and newspaper company Stuff.

College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics

College of Dentistry kicks off 2024-25 academic year

The UI College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics held it’s annual All-College Conference on Aug. 19 in Galagan Auditorium. The event symbolically kicked off the 2024-25 academic year for the college.

Dean Stanford began by addressing the group of nearly 400 faculty, staff, and residents before a couple faculty presentations and the introduction of new hires and residents for the upcoming year. 

The college honored faculty and staff for their dedication and service by recognizing significant years of service and presenting the Collegiate Teaching Award and James/Hermine McLeran Faculty Award.

The college also welcomed Iowa Women’s Wrestling head coach Clarissa Chun who spoke to the college about excellence and how to attain and retain excellence in your own discipline. She shared her background and how she got started in wrestling as a native Hawaiian and ended up in Iowa City.

Check out the photo gallery from the conference taken by College of Dentistry photographer Jake Hannon.

Collegiate Teaching Award Dr. Dan Caplan, Preventive and Community Dentistry

James/Hermine McLeran Faculty Award Dr. Jennifer Hartshorn, Preventive and Community Dentistry

Years of Service Awards

• Heather Carey, Hospital Dentistry
• Cheryl Dabney, Dental Business Office
• David Daniels, Instrument Processing
• Nicholas Deister, Family Dentistry
• Jhanvi Desai, Preventive and Community Dentistry
• JoLynne Etscheidt, Family Dentistry
• Sukirth Ganesan, Periodontics
• Deborah Hellwig, Family Dentistry
• Maria Hennes, Endodontics
• Jacki Knorr, Clinic Administration and Patient Care
• Nate Marner, Instrument Processing
• Rebecca Meyerholz, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
• Lisa Sroka, Preventive and Community Dentistry
• Eric Van Otterloo, Iowa Institue for Oral Health Research
• Holly Bolt, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
• Azeez Butali, Iowa Institute for Oral Health Research
• Shilo Deneve, Hospital Dentistry
• Shanna Kolar, Endodontics
• Jeniffer Krogmeier, Endodontics
• Katie Rourke, Family Dentistry
• Erica Teixeira, Operative Dentistry
• Fabricio Teixeira, Endodontics
• Brenda Whitlatch, Clinic Administration and Patient Care
• Min Zhu, Iowa Institue for Oral Health Research
• Trishul Allareddy, Oral Pathology and Radiology Medicine
• Lisa Brenneman, Orthodontics
• Natalie Gravel, Orthodontics
• Nidhi Handoo, Oral Pathology and Radiology Medicine
• Liu Hong, Iowa Institute for Oral Health Research
• Laura Ford, Hospital Dentistry
• Maria Hernandez, Family Dentistry
• Steven Marshall, Orthodontics
• Michelle McQuistan, Preventive and Community Dentistry
• Stephanie Miller, Central Records
• Jean Redlinger, Family Dentistry
• Galen Schneider, Dental Administration
• Jody Courtney, Orthodontics
• Terry Lindquist, Prosthodontics
• Terri Pizinger, Clinic Administration and Patient Care
• Maria Polfliet, Oral Pathology and Radiology
• Marcos Vargas, Family Dentistry
• Nancy Welsh, Prosthodontics
• Vickie Beckler, Instrument Processing
• Barbara Colbert, Dental Administration
• Joellen Jepson, Oral Pathology and Radiology Medicine
• Michael Kanellis, Pediatric Dentistry
• Marsha Cunningham-Ford, Preventive and Community Dentistry
• Beverly Misiag, Instrument Processing

Personal Stories from the Mission

Voyager is a mission with no shortage of highlights, given its historic encounters with all the giant planets and the first-ever entry of a human-made object into interstellar space. We asked team members past and present and next-generation scientists and engineers inspired by Voyager to share their most meaningful moments over the decades.

From the first detection of active volcanoes outside Earth to the first up-close images of Neptune, the 40-year Odyssey of NASA's Voyager mission is full of unforgettable memories. Voyager 1, the farthest human-made object, launched on Sept. 5, 1977, and Voyager 2, the second farthest, launched on Aug. 20, 1977. In honor of their 40th launch anniversaries, we asked scientists and engineers who have worked with the spacecraft, as well as enthusiasts inspired by the mission, to share their most meaningful Voyager moments.

Some Voyager team members began their careers in the early days of the mission. Designing science sequences for the 1986 Uranus encounter was a first job after college for Suzanne Dodd, now the Voyager project manager: "We were making history," she said.

Jamie Rankin, who started working with Voyager Project Scientist Ed Stone just days after Voyager 1 entered interstellar space in 2012: "Every day as a graduate student here is like living in a legacy of discovery," she wrote.

We were making it happen. We were making history.

Suzanne "Suzy" Dodd

Voyager Project Manager

What is your most meaningful Voyager moment and why?

"I loved adventure stories as a child, turned to science fiction as a young adult, studied math and physics at Georgia Tech, often gazed at the night sky and dreamed of one day exploring the planets. After learning the tricks of the trade at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, I was thrilled in late 1974 to receive a call from Bud Schurmeier, project manager of the Mariner Jupiter/Saturn 1977 mission (or simply MJS77), which was later named Voyager. He offered me the job of “mission analysis and engineering manager.” I would be working with the great team of dedicated people Bud had assembled."

Charley Kohlhase

"I was 9 in 1989 when my parents let me stay up to watch the PBS coverage of Voyager 2's flyby of Neptune. I remember my parents debating whether I would even be interested. I think I really wanted to see it because I'd heard about it. I was interested in space, and I wanted to be an astronaut, but only in a vague way."

Mark Wallace

"For me, the highlights of Voyager were clearly the planetary encounters. All six of them were wonderful experiences where every day we saw and learned new things. We had a lifetime of discovery packed into each one."

"My involvement with the Voyager mission started in 2001, when I started using and adapting a major computational code developed by the University of Michigan to study the outer layer of the heliosphere, where this bubble of plasma that the Sun blows around itself touches interstellar space."

"I arrived in Pasadena, California, to begin graduate school at Caltech on Friday, August 31, 2012 -- just six days after Voyager 1’s own interstellar arrival. My new advisor, Ed Stone, invited me to attend the Voyager Science Steering Group meeting which started the following Monday."

"I think back to the days we launched Voyager 40 years ago, and it seemed like one more shot into the unknown -- albeit rather ambitious. We just wanted to get to Jupiter and Saturn in the next four years and explore the “uncharted territory.”

"In late 1972, I was hired into NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to develop the Voyager power subsystem design. My background included engineering on the Phoenix missile and F-15 radar transmitter at Hughes Aircraft. The opportunity to work at a world-class laboratory like JPL was the pinnacle of my career aspirations."

"The five days of January 24 to 28, 1986 -- starting when Voyager 2 flew by Uranus (“the planet that got knocked on its side”) and ending with the painful tragedy of the Challenger accident -- are forever etched in my memory of unforgettable life experiences."

"In 1610, when Galileo (Galilei) was the first person in the world to look through a telescope at an astronomical object, he looked at Jupiter, and he saw four moons going around it. The historical importance of that event is it convinced him that Copernicus was right -- the Sun was the center of the solar system, and the planets were revolving around it."

It wasn't just that it was a technically great mission. The people who I worked with, the generosity and kindness with which they treated me, has stayed with me always.

Steve Squyres

Role on Voyager: Graduate Student

"Voyager was one of the most wonderful, formative, unforgettable experiences of my entire career. I was very, very fortunate that in graduate school I worked with several members of Voyager imaging team."

"There was great excitement in the office as the scientists started arriving in the weeks leading up to the flyby. I got to meet Carl Sagan and had him autograph my copy of Cosmos."

"I started working for the Voyager Imaging Team in 1977, shortly before launch, and continued on through the Neptune encounter. There were so many memorable moments, but one of my favorites occurred in the spring of 1990..."

"A single paper plot over a quarter of a mile long showed the attenuation of the starlight by the ring material, at a resolution of greater than 20 meters, for the entire 70 million-meter length of the cut through the rings’ radius. What a spectacular event that unfolded after so much hard work by so many people!"

"One of my favorite stories in science history is Voyager’s observation of tidally driven volcanic activity at Jupiter’s tiny moon Io, first theorized just prior to the mission’s arrival at Jupiter. As I grew up I knew I wanted to contribute to answering big questions, including, "Are we alone in the universe?" The Voyager Golden Record, which carries a capsule of sounds and images from Earth in the chance that some day an alien civilization might recover the spacecraft, came to symbolize for me humanity's commitment to pursuing the answers to such questions and the hope that our better nature will see us through to the future."

Steve Vance

"Working on a mission like Voyager, with the opportunity to explore the planets, was something I dreamed about since first looking at Jupiter and Saturn in third grade with my tiny telescope. I wondered what these worlds looked like up close and Voyager gave me a chance to find out."

"One of my more memorable moments, after watching Voyager 1 launch from the Cape in September of 1977, was focused on whether Neptune had a magnetosphere... Part of the challenge was that certain conclusions could only be drawn from actually 'being there,' and in mid-August 1989, Voyager was bearing down on its rendezvous with Neptune."

"Back in 1989, I was hired by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to work on the General Science Data Team for the Voyager project’s Neptune flyby. Incredible! My first job at JPL was on what could reasonably be argued as the best mission ever flown by JPL at the peak of its experience and capabilities."

"When I was graduating from college in Texas with a computer science degree, I was all set to go to work for IBM in San Jose (IBM back then for many of us was like Google now); I had never heard of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory or Voyager. However, fate brought me to JPL and to the Voyager project."

"I have had the unspeakably good fortune to have worked on Voyager throughout my entire career and to continue to do so. As a graduate student, I worked on the Plasma Wave Science (PWS) instruments prior to launch. (I placed a 'Uranus or Bust' sticker on the Voyager 2 PWS shipping container – how little I knew about how far it would go!)."

"Finally, for me, a cosmic-ray physicist, one of the highlights by far has been the crossing of the heliopause, the boundary of the Sun’s magnetic bubble, into interstellar space by Voyager 1. The Voyagers will orbit the center of the galaxy forever. It is humbling to think that I’ve been a part of such a fantastic mission."

My daily interactions across the JPL engineering matrix on Voyager-specific issues and problems provided me with a host of friendships and a knowledge base on implementation of a long-lived spacecraft. Who could have predicted that this hardware would still be functional some 40 years after launch?

Robert Detwiler

Power System Cognizant Engineer

Discover More Topics From NASA

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‘murder in a small town’ starring rossif sutherland will be dedicated to his late dad donald: the touching story behind duo’s link to fox series, dnc producer ricky kirshner on kamala harris’ big night, putting the big show together & how it’s not the grammys.

By Dominic Patten , Ted Johnson

EXCLUSIVE: “The other night we had Michelle and Barack , last night we had Tim Walz , and tonight we got a major headliner,” Democratic National Convention executive producer Ricky Kirshner said Thursday ahead of of Kamala Harris ‘ acceptance speech later tonight the the DNC in Chicago. “So I say, the closing act is pretty good, so stick around no matter what time it is.”

Watch on Deadline

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In an election year where almost everything is as unconventional as can be, this week’s DNC is actually a bit of back to the future. Unlike the virtual DNC that Kirshner and team had to scramble to put on in 2020, DNC 2024 is the first in-person gathering for Democratic delegates since Hillary Clinton was nominated in Philadelphia in 2016.

Still, among the speeches and testimonials, it hasn’t all been so traditional.

All week long, the atmosphere on the floor of the convention has been celebratory — a DJ even played the right-on-the-nose “Celebration” to dancing delegates on the final night. The music acts have been placed throughout the program, keeping delegates at peak energy.

RELATED: In The Arena: Even With A DJ And Showbiz Flair, Democrats Stick With Much That’s Conventional

As the final hours of this historic DNC loom, Kirshner chatted with us about the past three nights, tonight’s program, and how the Democrats got here. He wouldn’t talk about rumors of Beyoncé or another big surprise. which may just be a misinterpretation of some padding that has been baked into tonight’s running time to hit the primetime ET mark for the VPOTUS. However, Kirshner had a lot to say about getting it right on one of the biggest and most public stages of modern times.

RICKY KIRSHNER: ( laughs ) Are there any surprises? Don’t ask me that, then my answer has to be: If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise.

DEADLINE: Well, Ricky, that’s the risk I’ll take. KIRSHNER: Honestly, I think it’s going to be fairly traditional, balloon drop, and all. We might have a little sparkle here and there, but why mess with success, right?

Like, I think there is a strong tradition in that moment. You know, the time is for a focus on [Kamala Harris] and Doug, Governor Walz and his wife. And, that’s what the focus should be on. If people are looking around to see something besides our candidate, we haven’t done our jobs well.

RELATED: 2024 DNC Celebrity Attendees Photo Gallery: Musicians, Actors & One Surprise Guest Show Up For Kamala Harris On Night 4

DEADLINE: Ricky, it’s come to my attention that today, as well as being the day that the Vice President makes her acceptance speech, is also her 10th wedding anniversary. Are we going to see a cake?

KIRSHNER: ( laughs ) That’s not that easy to pull off, believe it or not. Even if I sent someone out to buy a cake, it’s not that easy to get through security.

DEADLINE: Leading into the headliner tonight, what have been some of the surprises and challenges of this year’s convention that you didn’t expect? KIRSHNER: There’s always surprises in this, you know that.

Many, many years ago, someone asked me, what do you think will be the best moment? And I said, you never know in something like this. I think some of the speeches were great. I really loved the Doug speech the other night. I thought is was so warm and loving. Obviously, when you have people like Oprah, you know, that’s gonna score. I thought Gov. Walz last night was amazing.

DEADLINE: Organizers have gotten some flack for running late, past primetime. The VP’s campaign spokesman Michael Taylor told us earlier today that despite the media handwringing, they were fine with it because this is an event for more than just conventional TV, but multiple media platforms. And honestly, if former President Bill Clinton wants to go over his time, who is going to stop him – or shouldn’t expect that?

KIRSHNER: Well, thank you.

Look, you know what it is like from awards shows, Sometimes people go long, and you gotta make some concessions along the way, and we did. We do the best we can. Tonight, we’re going to go for better time.

On the on the other side of that, at the end of today you’ve got a headliner. The other night we had Michelle and Barack, last night we had Tim Walz, and tonight we got a major headliner. So I say, the closing act is pretty good so stick around no matter what time it is.

DEADLINE: There has to be a tightrope act at play here, keeping all the pieces and truly major players in place and on time. Is there a bridge too far in your opinion on pulling this off?

KIRSHNER: It’s funny, because even the acts that come in, there’s a lot of times we’ve said, “Hey guys, it’s not the Grammys.” We can’t do a band setup. We have our own house band. We don’t have a closed band. We can’t hide so we’re not looking to do that.

DEADLINE: Was that a factor with the roll call, lots of acts there …

KIRSHNER: The roll call really built on what we did in 2020 during the pandemic.

As you know, then we went around the country virtually, and we kind of started with that idea again. And then Stephanie, the message person, I called her about a month or six weeks ago, and I said, “Why are we trying to do what we did last time?” I’m wanted this to be a party, a real party. Everyone hasn’t seen each other in eight years, since the 2016 convention in Philly.

DEADLINE: Where did the inspiration come from to really rock it out?

KIRSHNER: I went to a Chicago Bulls basketball game a month or so ago, and I was sitting there and thought “This is what it’s got to be like.”

DEADLINE: The king of Super Bowl halftime shows was inspired by the NBA?

KIRSHNER: Ha! Yes, the graphics flying on the ribbons and the graphics on the music. And then I called DJ Cassidy, I had worked with him in the past, and then it all just kind of came together. And I did not expect it to go there. The funny part was unexpected, like how into it Lil Jon was.

DEADLINE: Were you surprised by that?

KIRSHNER: Well, there were other celebs we tried to explain it to him, and they didn’t understand what we wanted to do. Then, on the day, when you see Sean Astin show up, and people start chanting “Rudy, Rudy, Rudy,” I was like people are getting it, they’re really getting it.

Then, I worried can it last for an hour? I don’t know, and it did. As you say Dominic, I’ve done a lot of big shows. But what people don’t understand is, on something like the roll call, we have 57 different delegations, all the music, and all the graphics. Then we had three live remotes. We went to Oakland at one point, went to Minnesota at one point. Then, as someone pointed out on Twitter the other day, which was really nice, we hit the Milwaukee remote exactly on time with the Vice President, perfectly cued up with the right music. I just got to say: my crew did an amazing job.

DEADLINE: To that, what tech do you have in your toolbox that you didn’t have at the last live DNC in 2016?

KIRSHNER: Well, because of all the Zooming of 2020, a lot of remote we’re able to get in a lot easier now.

DEADLINE: Oh, really?

KIRSHNER: Oh yeah. I remember at 2016 or even 2012, you’d have to send a remote truck and an uplink and other stuff like that. Now it’s pretty easy to plug and play on the internet. You know, you get a pretty good feed that we could put up on television or on our screen. So that’s certainly evolved tremendously.

You know, I think our LED screens, which you know, not to get too technical, were probably five to eight million eight years ago, are two million now. It looks like a beautiful movie screen behind you. You know, things like that have really evolved.

But, you know, I think a lot of it is just production guys that know what we’re doing and figure this out along the way.

DEADLINE: The non-tech aspect of it.

KIRSHNER: Yeah, we are comfortable with each other and do a lot of big shows together all through the years. So, like, I honestly didn’t really even consider how hard the roll call was until it was over. Once we did that, I’m like, “Oh, shoot, yeah, that’s kind of what we do.” We didn’t even think like that. That’s crazy. But that’s our business.

DEADLINE: In that, with presidents, ex-presidents, vice presidents, almost presidents, there’s a lot of heavyweights to keep happy, even by Hollywood standards, and keeping the eye on the prize with the nominee. So, the question is, especially when you are introducing a candidate to the American people, is the convention for the people in the arena or is the convention for the people watching on TV for you? Is it a balance?

KIRSHNER: It’s absolutely a balance.

But what’s interesting, and I think a lot of people don’t realize, is we do have a TV feed, DNC TV, but if you’re watching CNN, or you’re watching MSNBC, or you’re watching a network, they have their own cameras. So, it’s a very complex thing when you talk to the news organizations every morning and go through our program. To answer your question, we’re very concerned with what’s in the room, but we’re also very concerned with how the networks cover us. Understanding that you might not see our cameras. you might see someone else’s cameras, It’s a very, very complex web of trying to work with the networks to get our message out on our behalf, even though they’re news organizations, to have to cover us in their way.

DEADLINE: This might sound too nerdy, but how big a production is the DNC for you?

KIRSHNER: Oh, it’s pretty large. We have probably 250 people or more on production staff. That’s not including local union labor stagehands, another 100 or so.

What people don’t understand is, even in a Super Bowl like this, our production team is one part of a major, major operation. There’s a bussing operation that’s moving 5000 delegates. There’s security. I mean, just to go out and feed people is a full operation. Just to get a credential system up and running is a full system. Then there are all the political people. So, we are a small piece within a very, very large, complex system. We also appreciate that they understand that at the end of the day, what people see at home is what we put out there when we built. Bruce Rogers designed our set, Bobby Dickinson lights it, etc. We’ve worked for five months just to make it look that good.

In the Super Bowl, with the halftime, you’re a small part of a football game. Here, you’re a small part of a gigantic, gigantic system, one element of this, and as always, there’s a push and pull.

DEADLINE: Speaking of push and pull, just over a month ago, this was Joe Biden ’s DNC. Now it is squarely Kamala Harris’ convention. What that a big shift for you and your team?

KIRSHNER: I mean…( laughs )

Seriously like I said, we started looking at set designs, etc., months ago. You know, this thing doesn’t get built in the day. So, a lot of that was already down the road.

Were there some videos and stuff that had to be redone? Yeah, that’s part of the messaging. I’ve worked with Stephanie Cutter of Precision, and Minyon Moore, who’s the chair working with all the messaging stuff. A lot of the messaging stuff comes from them, and I think we have a good partnership.

DEADLINE: On a practical level, how does that work?

KIRSHNER: You know, they might have a message and say, “Hey, how do we stage this?” Let me give you an example. I don’t know if you saw the other night, there were a couple of moments where we have like, three, four or five people out there talking about reproductive rights. We didn’t want them to just come to the lectern, we wanted to let them tell their stories.

So, we said to the messaging team: Let us help you stage it. It was like, how do we stage this in a beautiful way? Now, we can’t go to black, like a theater.

So, we bring then up one by one in the spotlight. In the end, a lot of the message, what the words were, came from the message people, but what the look was, came from us. And so to go back to your question, yes, we built a set, we had a light, but what did the backdrops look like? What did our graphics look like? What are those pictures of the backdrop look like? All of that evolved in the last month as the candidate situation evolved.

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Voyager Media Awards: Judged - New Zealand's best photojournalism

New Zealand Herald and NZME photographer Alan Gibson won Photographer of the Year at this year's Voyager Media Awards.

The judges thought Gibson nailed every aspect of photography with his entry.

Dean Purcell, another photographer from the NZ Herald and NZME, was also nominated for the award.

Among Gibson's portfolio were photographs capturing the raw emotion Kiwis felt after the Christchurch terror attacks last year.

The Christchurch mosque shootings were one of many mammoth stories across 2019.

The eruption of Whakaari/White Island, the SkyCity convention centre fire and three sporting world cups made it a busy year for news.

Alan Gibson's award-winning entry for Photographer of the Year:

Dean Purcell's entry for Photographer of the year:

Gibson was one of many Herald journalists who took away top honours at the awards this year, with the newspaper also dominating.

The Herald won the two biggest and highly contested journalism titles in New Zealand - Website of the Year and Newspaper of the Year.

Judges described the NZ Herald as a "powerhouse news operation", as nzherald.co.nz also took out the rare digital double – Best News Website or App and the overall Website of the Year – after one of the biggest news years in New Zealand history.

Individual NZ Herald journalists were also honoured, including political editor Audrey Young, named political journalist of the year, and Nicholas Jones, awarded feature-writer of the year.

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Plan now and play later

Blog The Education Hub

https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2024/07/29/teacher-pay-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-2024-pay-award/

Teacher pay: everything you need to know about the 2024 pay award

The Education Secretary has accepted the recommendations of the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) and confirmed the teacher pay award for 2024-25, setting out what school teachers in England can expect to be paid next academic year.

The STRB is an independent group that makes recommendations on the pay of teachers in maintained schools in England and reports to the Secretary of State for Education and the Prime Minister.

Each year the STRB recommends a pay award based on different factors including the economy, school workforce data and evidence from organisations including the DfE, and the teaching unions.

The government then considers the recommendations in depth and makes a decision on what pay award teachers receive for the coming year.

Here’s everything you need to know about teacher pay.

Are teachers getting a pay rise this year?

The STRB recommended a pay award of 5.5% and this has been accepted in full by the Education Secretary, reflecting the vital contribution teachers make to children’s life chances.

The 5.5% award would see pay packets increase by over £2,500 for the average classroom teacher, which would take the median salary for 2024/25 to over £49,000 a year.

Will teachers at all schools receive the pay award?

The pay award applies to maintained schools, with academies continuing to have freedom over their pay and conditions.

However, in practice most academies follow the recommendations of the STRB.

Is the pay award fully funded?

Yes. Schools will receive £1.1 billion in additional funding to cover their overall costs in financial year 2024-25, including fully funding the pay award for teachers at a national level.

This matches what we have calculated is needed to fully fund the teacher pay award and the support staff pay offer, at the national level, on top of the available headroom in schools’ existing budgets.

We are also providing an additional £97 million for schools delivering post-16 education (£63 million) and early years (£34 million) provision.

Taken together, this is an increase of almost £1.2 billion.

The pay award impacts both financial years 2024-25 and 2025-26. This additional funding only covers the financial year 2024-25 portion of the award. We will take into account the impact of the full year's costs of the teacher pay award on schools when considering 2025-26 budgets, which are yet to be agreed.

When will teachers receive their pay rise?

Teachers will start receiving their new salary in the autumn, after a new pay order is laid in Parliament and comes into force.

Pay will be backdated to 1 September 2024.

Will school support staff get a pay rise?

The teacher pay award only applies to school teachers, but the additional funding schools will receive also ensures schools are, at a national level, covered for the current 2024-25 pay offer for support staff, which is currently under negotiation.

Unlike teachers, most school support staff are currently employed on the pay and conditions of the National Joint Council (NJC) for Local Government Services. The NJC is a negotiating body made up of representatives from trade unions and local government employers.

We are committed to reinstating the School Support Staff Negotiating Body to give support staff like teaching assistants, caretakers and cleaners a stronger voice in government. The body will be tasked with establishing a national terms and conditions handbook, training, career progression routes, and fair pay rates for support staff.

What else are you doing to ensure teaching is an attractive profession?

Alongside the pay award, we have also announced that from September, schools will no longer be required to use the Performance Related Pay (PRP) system, which can lead to schools and teachers going through an overly bureaucratic process to agree individual teachers’ pay rises. This will help improve teacher workload.

We will also clarify that teachers can carry out their planning time at home, improving flexible working for staff.

You may also be interested in:

• What is the national curriculum and why is it being reviewed?
• The King’s Speech 2024: What does it mean for education?
• Letter to the education workforce from Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson

Tags: Chancellor , pay award , school teachers salary , schools , STRB , teacher pay , teacher pay award 2024 , teacher salary

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Entries open for the 2024 Voyager Media Awards

The news publishers’ association (npa) is delighted to announce that entries to the 2024 voyager media awards are now open.

There have been a number of changes to the awards line up this year so please make sure you read the entry criteria carefully and make note of any changes.

The list of awards on offer for the 51 st Media Awards highlights the very best in New Zealand journalism today, with 37 premium awards across four categories: All Media ; Audio, Digital and Video ; Photography ; and Written .

One new premium award has been introduced: News Journalist of the Year (All Media) for excellence in news reporting across all platforms.

Awards which have had key changes include: Best Columnist, Opinion or Critique ; Best Up and Coming Journalist ; Best Investigation ; Cartoonist/Animator of the Year ; Local Journalist of the Year ; Best (shortform) Video of the Year ; Gordon McLauchlan Journalism Award ; Feature Writer of the Year ; Best Current Affairs (long) or Documentary ; Best Current Affairs (short); and Digital News Provider of the Year (formerly separate website and app awards).

Entries close on Wednesday 21 February 2024 , with the list of finalists being released in mid-April.  Go to the Voyager Media Awards website during the entry open period to access the entry portal and submit your entries.

Wed 17 Jan 2024 – Entries open (10am) Wed 21 Feb 2024 – Entries close (5pm) March 2024  – Judging Tues 16 Apr 2024 – Finalists announced and tickets on sale Fri 24 May 2024 – Winners announced at a celebration at Shed 10, Auckland

A huge thank you to our 2024 sponsors

Premier sponsor: Voyager Internet Gold sponsor: NZ On Air Silver sponsors: Spark NZ, Sport NZ, TVNZ and Whakaata Māori Bronze sponsors: Media Copyright Agency (MCA), Telum Media and Warner Bros. Discovery.

Without their generous support these awards would not be possible.

The 2024 Voyager Media Awards celebrate the work of journalists across print, broadcast and digital including reporters, feature writers, columnists, cartoonists, reviewers, photographers and video journalists, culminating in a celebration of the winners in Auckland on Friday 24 May 2024.

Aotearoa’s National Media Awards have celebrated excellence in New Zealand journalism for 51 years. Originally known as the Qantas Press Awards, then the Canon Media Awards, Voyager Internet has been the premier sponsor since 2018. The awards are managed and promoted by the News Publishers’ Association which champions the news media industry of New Zealand.

*There are a limited number of sponsorship opportunities still available for 2024 if you or your organisation would like to support the celebration and recognition of quality New Zealand journalism.

For more information, please contact Brook Cameron , General Manager, News Publishers’ Association

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