"Two very strong photographs across a diverse subject range, great skill and technical ability and understanding of composure," the judges said.
Two other Bay of Plenty Times staffers were Voyager Award finalists: Annemarie Quill for Best Single News Story and Andrew Warner for Best Photography - News award.
The Bay of Plenty Times was also a finalist for Newspaper of the Year award (up to 30,000 circulation) along with its sister newspaper the Rotorua Daily Post.
The Bay of Plenty Times also competed for Best Newspaper Front Page.
Regional editor Scott Inglis said he was extremely proud of his team's achievements.
"Carmen Hall is a journalist incredibly dedicated to her work, and it shows in the calibre of her stories.
"John Borren's attention to detail shows in his clean, well-shot photographs, which add another dimension to our news stories."
The Best Videographer Junior Award went to Tauranga-based Jaden McLeod of NZ Herald Local Focus.
The judges said McLeod's entry "stood out" with all three samples of this work in his portfolio having strong news structure.
"His style uses great dramatic starts, both visually and content. They were all good solid news stories, strong filming and successful marrying of visuals to script.
"Part of his value is the ability to get people to talk to him and get on side with telling the story for a wider audience – up close and personal (and we don't mean just the nudist story)," the judges said.
NZ Herald and NZME senior investigative reporter Jared Savage, based in Tauranga, won the crime, justice and/or social issues category award.
The judging panel said his "impressive entry" that shed light on Citizen Yan's money laundering web and "demonstrated Jared's ability to build trust to tell two heartbreaking stories".
"An excellent entry that showcased Jared's ability to conduct in-depth research to unravel a tangled money laundering web and shed light on New Zealand's most controversial citizen - William Yan.
"Jared also demonstrated his ability to use his contacts to connect and build trust with whānau in the Bay of Plenty to tell two tragic tales."
For the second year in a row The Weekend Herald was named Newspaper of the Year and Weekly Newspaper of the Year.
Best editorial campaign also went to nzherald.co.nz for its Break the Silence campaign raising awareness of New Zealand's high teen suicide rates and the need to speak up.
Run by the Newspapers Publishers' Association in association with Voyager Internet as the premier sponsor, the awards attracted more than 2000 entries.
The awards handed out a gala dinner at Cordis, Auckland on Friday night recognised excellence in journalism across newspapers, magazines, digital media, TV and radio.
