Boy in the Water, The Detail win national podcast awards
Held annually, the awards recognise excellence in all areas of commercial and non-commercial radio broadcasting and podcasting.
Winning best true crime podcast is another accolade for Newsroom's investigations editor Melanie Reid, producer Bonnie Sumner and editor Dave Filoiali'i. The team also won best podcast and best investigation at last year's Voyager Media Awards.
The Boy in the Water examines events surrounding the death of a young boy in the southern town of Gore. Lachie Jones was found floating face-up in the town's oxidation pond by a police dog and its handler in January 2019.
He was deemed to have died by accidental drowning but Reid's investigations have spotlighted serious deficiencies in multiple police investigations and the autopsy performed on the three-and-a-half-year-old.
Melanie Reid with Lachie's father Paul Jones at the Gore oxidation ponds. Photo: Grant Findlay
The podcast has had more than three and a half million downloads and is about to enter its fourth season on Newsroom's podcast channel, Delve.
Reid and her team will be in Invercargill on Friday June 13 when Coroner Alexander Ho releases his findings from the inquest he held last year.
'It is great to win this category and have our team recognised for the hard work that has gone into the series. For us, The Boy in the Water is about trying to answer the unanswered questions – it's about system failure, shoddy police work and the dynamics of life in a small town like Gore,' says Reid.
The Detail, produced by Newsroom for RNZ, beat a strong field to win best news and current affairs podcast.
The Detail team of Amanda Gillies, Gwen McClure, Davina Zimmer, Alexia Russell and Sharon Brettkelly. Photo: Supplied
The other finalists were Kim Hill wants to know for RNZ, Front Page for NZ Herald and another Newsroom podcast, Fractured – also produced by Melanie Reid and Bonnie Sumner.
The Detail team of Sharon Brettkelly, Amanda Gillies, Alexia Russell, Gwen McClure and Davina Zimmer produce six podcasts a week that are published on multiple platforms including Newsroom, RNZ, Apple and Spotify.
The podcast looks at the story behind the big stories making news. Producer Alexia Russell says 'we aim to speak to the person in New Zealand who knows the most about the issue we are looking at; or the journalist who has covered it at length and can offer an over-arching and unbiased view. A comment we received last week, that The Detail was a young person's introduction to good journalism, made us very happy.
'Our hope is that we can contribute to raising the news IQ in Aotearoa.'
The Detail's entry included episodes on the sinking of the NZ Navy vessel Manawanui, the growth of controversial Chinese online retailer Temu and a look back at the impact TV3 News had over its 35 years of broadcasting.
Both of Newsroom's award winning podcasts are supported by funding from NZ on Air.
In May, Newsroom's Jonathan Milne won the Voyager Media Awards honour for best original podcast for his international investigation Powder Keg, with Mike Wesley Smith. He was also named business journalist of the year.
In other awards: In the same way it has dominated the commercial ratings, Newstalk ZB had a strong night – winning Station of the Year for the fifth consecutive time.
Niva Retimanu won best newsreader and the station's drivetime host, Heather du Plessis Allan won the coveted Sir Paul Holmes Broadcaster of the Year award.
RNZ's Alexa Cook won best news journalist and Kate Green won best new talent – journalist.
RNZ podcasts took out the honours for best society and culture (Nellie's Baby), and science and culture (Our Changing World).
The public broadcaster also won best news story, best documentary for The Last voyage of the Rainbow Warrior and best children's programme for Suzy Cato's Suzy and Friends in a POD-cast and best daily or weekly factual feature for Our Changing World.
Best local station went to More FM, Northland and independent station of the year was won by Radio Tarana.
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