Whakaata Māori took home the award for best live event coverage at the 2023 edition of the New Zealand Television Awards last night for its live broadcast, ANZAC 2023.
ANZAC Day has been a broadcast highlight since 2006, covering dawn services both around the motu and in Gallipoli and sharing stories of veterans and their whānau.
It is an honour and a privilege, Whakaata Māori kaihautū Shane Taurima says, to be able to honour the bravery, sacrifice, and years of service given by our defence men and their whānau.
“This acknowledgement is dedicated to the communities who rely on us to tell stories that matter,” he says.
Other special mentions that had Whakaata Māori involved included the TV series Homesteads, which took out the Te Māngai Pāho best reo Māori programme and was broadcast by Whakaata Māori, and Sesilia Pusiaki winning Best Supporting Actress in the film Inky Pinky Ponky.
In the film, a fakaleitī (Tongan person labelled as male at birth but expressing a feminine gender identity) falls in love with the First XV captain at St. Valentine’s High School and must fight her way through an environment of prejudice and intolerance to achieve happiness.
Inky Pinky Ponky is available on demand on MĀORI+.
“I encourage all our producers to continue to create fresh formats in their own voice, in te reo Māori, reflecting the Aotearoa we live in today. Whakaata Māori is privileged to support their passion and innovation as the waka for original, homegrown and national identity,” Taurima says.
“We will pursue our mission of telling compelling stories digital-first, that promote our language, culture and heritage so that all New Zealanders can access content unique to Aotearoa-New Zealand.”
Whakaata Māori achieved major milestones in 2023: doubling Te Reo Māori channel audiences, increasing online audiences by 33%, hitting its first milestone of 100,000 downloads for the MāORI+ app, and reaching over a million viewers across rangatahi sports coverage on MĀORI ACTIVE. It also received 17 nominations for this year’s edition of the NZTV Awards.
