Media Releases

Gold Awards for RNZ in New York

Released at 11:29 am on 19 June 2018

The RNZ podcast series The Lost has won a gold award for excellence for its presenter Paloma Migone at the prestigious New York Festivals Radio Awards announced in Manhattan this morning. (NZ time)

Morning Report presenter Guyon Espiner has also received a gold award for Best Interview for his unforgettable conversation with New Zealand First leader, Winston Peters, during last year’s election campaign.

The New York Festivals Grand Jury has presented RNZ with a total of six awards - two gold, one silver and three bronze – this equals the previous best performance by RNZ in any international competition. Three RNZ submissions were also recognised as finalists in their respective categories.

With entries from over 30 countries, the New York Festivals Radio Awards recognise the very best in the world of radio, celebrating programming of the highest quality that is at the forefront of audio innovation. Categories are designed to reflect emerging trends, covering all creative facets of the radio broadcasting industry.

RNZ CEO, Paul Thompson acknowledged the importance of international recognition:

“We are all very proud of RNZ’s performance at the New York Festivals, to have the talents of our radio and podcast teams recognised so warmly by a panel of international judges in the world’s largest radio awards contest is a tremendous vote of confidence in the quality, professionalism and skill of what we produce.”

Produced and presented by Paloma Migone, The Lost looks at true stories of New Zealand's missing people, exploring the cold cases of those who never came home.

In September last year New Zealand First leader Winston Peters joined Guyon Espiner on Morning Report for an extended interview as part of its Election 2017 special interview series.

Each presenter receives a gold award recognising outstanding work in radio or audio innovation.

A New York Festivals silver award was presented to The Panel host, Jim Mora, and bronze awards were received by Kim Hill and Kathryn Ryan for on-air presentation, and by Melody Thomas for her ground-breaking podcast series BANG!

RNZ Award Winners:
Gold Radio Winner    Best Interview                Guyon Espiner        Winston Peters MP
Gold Radio Winner    Audio Podcast Series    Paloma Migone       The Lost

Silver Award              Jim Mora                        On-Air Talent           Best Talk Show Host

Bronze Award            Kim Hill                          On-Air Talent            Best Radio Personality
Bronze Award            Kathryn Ryan                On-Air Talent            Best Talk Show Host
Bronze Award            Melody Thomas             Audio Podcasts        BANG!

RNZ Finalists
John Campbell                                                  On-Air Talent              Best News Anchor
Graham Kennedy                                              NZSO Aotearoa Plus  Best Live Sound
Simon Morton / Alison Ballance                        The Science of Sweat  Documentary

Paloma Migone’s award winning series The Lost is available on the RNZ website:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/programmes/the-lost

Guyon Espiner’s award winning interview with Winston Peters can be heard here:
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201858449/ele
ction-2017-leader-interview-winston-peters
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ugSJphb9vU