To celebrate Maori Language Week, The Daily Post ran a competition for Rotorua residents to win a new te reo keyboard, thanks to Rotorua Trust. The keyboards were developed and produced by Rotorua's Dennis Gray and his business partner Jay Bocock. The Maori keyboard has all of the letters in the Maori alphabet illuminated in a different colour and has access to all the vowels and macrons found in the language with a one-touch option for touch typists. It also has separate keys for "wh" and "ng". To enter, people had to tell us how they used Maori in everyday conversation.
Below is a list of the winners:
Faith Lindsay
I'd love a keyboard because I'm Maori, love all things Maori and will be able to use it for years to come as I go through primary, intermediate and secondary school. Sometimes it gets annoying having to press numerous buttons for the macrons just to write one word.
Niniwa Epapara
I use Maori in everyday conversation at work when answering the phone and speaking to our beneficiaries or our koeke people.
Selwyn Insley
We start the day with ata marie and finish the day with po marie, in between we try to use as many nouns in te reo as we can and add on instructions in regards to them.
June Grant
I talk to my granddaughter everyday because she goes to kohanga reo so that she can teach her kuia to speak Maori.
Shirley Pryce
I use te reo daily when sending emails from my workplace and when greeting people in the office or over the phone.
Bruce Moody
I use te reo Maori as I visit classrooms in my job, using what I learned from my Diploma in Te Ara Reo.
Zandra Paul
I use kia ora or tena koe everyday at the start of conversations.
Emma Morrison
Kia whakanui, whakatipu, whakapiki, to tatou reo rangatira.