Features

Schools have been holding their annual prizegivings a time to celebrate achievement. But what about the children who don't get to go up on the stage? Audio

Here are season’s greetings and a guide to wonderful festive music for Christmas and the New Year on RNZ Concert.

Widescreen - The rest of the world gets to enjoy decades of great television on dozens of different streaming services. What is there for New Zealand, asks Dan Slevin.

Boxing Day films are usually blockbusters with big special effects but One Life (starring Sir Anthony Hopkins) tells an epic story that is powerfully human at the same time. Video, Audio

Most people will have some form of traditional Christmas dinner in mind; often Christmas meats and Christmas cake or pudding, but what do you make when vegan and gluten-free guests RSVP?

Widescreen - Dan Slevin samples three out of the dozens of new Christmas entertainments that are new to streaming this holiday season. 

RNZ Pacific has updated the on-air frequencies for its cyclone watch service for the 2023-2024 cyclone season.

Chicken caravans are good for the hens and good for the soil, says Lance Gillespie, a regenerative farming advocate in Palmerston North. Video, Audio

Keep your eggs and tomato sauce in the fridge and don't eat food from dented cans, advises Phil Bremer. Audio

At age 13, Shan Liu is the youngest winner so far of the Lewis Eady National Junior Piano Competition. Less than five years ago, he couldn't even read music. Video, Audio

RNZ Music 101 host Charlotte Ryan has a soft spot for Christmas songs of all genres. She shares her favourites. Video

The Sampler - Tony Stamp talks to US singer-songwriter Julia Byrne about her acclaimed second album The Greater Wings ahead of her New Zealand performances in January. Video, Audio

There are faultlines throughout Aotearoa, and despite the focus on the 'big three', there is a chance of earthquakes all over the country, according to a leading scientist. Audio

Septuagenarian Ruth Shaw's plans for a quiet retirement were derailed last year when her memoir The Bookseller at the End of the World, became an international bestseller.  Audio

Sofia Rodrigues shares science-backed tips for perfecting the texture of your roast potatoes and pavlova. Audio

Te Ihutai, suggesting the breathing in and out of tidal waters, features NZTrio performing works from Philippines, UK, Aotearoa, Japan and Malaysia, during the Asian Composers League series in 2022.

Although Michael Cunningham began writing Day during the Covid pandemic, his new book is not a "plague novel". "I want to read about people and their relationships and how they survived being alive," he says. Audio

The Sampler - Tony Stamp looks into the Genesis founder's first album of original material in over twenty years. Video, Audio

Cam Booker is hoping a good crowd will turn up on Christmas eve to dig their own spuds and pick peas at his market garden in Sefton. Audio

"No one got out of the seats at afternoon smoko and the shed was squeezed full" - Gore farmer Cameron Grant. Video, Audio

Break out the wooden spoons and spatulas. Here are a half-dozen of the best culinary works of the past year, chosen by The RNZ Cookbook co-editor David Cohen.

Paul Weaver is in the middle of peak Christmas singing season, but it's a miracle he can sing at all. Audio

When we talk about the pioneering generation of modern Māori artists, the names most typically heard are men. But a major new exhibition and book is recognising the late Marilyn Webb's legacy. Audio

Eighty-percent of people's problems with their tomatoes is they're just watering too much, says organic gardener Kath Irvine.   Audio