Open Justice multimedia journalist, Waikato

Natalie Akoorie is a senior reporter based in Waikato reporting crime and justice issues nationally. She began her career at the Waitomo News in 1995 having graduated from a two-year Diploma of Media Arts at the former Waikato Polytechnic. In 1999 she moved to London and worked as chief reporter and deputy news editor at the Hounslow Chronicle and its stable of newspapers, covering the police beat and council. She also freelanced at the Guardian and for a national educational magazine in Cambridge. Natalie has also worked at a business travel magazine in Sydney, the Rodney Times, Whakatāne Beacon, Sunday News, and Waikato Times where she was deputy chief reporter before joining the Herald as a regional reporter in Hamilton in 2011. After a stint as Local Democracy Reporting editor at RNZ in 2021, Natalie returned to the Herald as Open Justice deputy editor in 2022. She has been nominated for several national media awards over the years including Newspaper Story of the Year in 2010 and Reporter of the Year in 2018, and she won a Regional Journalism Scholarship in 2020. In 2023 Natalie was named Runner-Up Regional Journalist of the Year. Natalie has covered a wide range of rounds throughout her 28-year career and has a special interest in the regions, women's health, disability rights, social issues, and in seeking answers for patients in a failing health system. You can contact Natalie at natalie.akoorie@nzme.co.nz.