New Zealand's best newspaper

Photo / Norrie Montgomery

The Herald on Sunday has been judged New Zealand's finest newspaper - again.

For the second time in our short five-year history, we have won the titles of New Zealand's Best Weekly Newspaper and overall Best Newspaper at the Qantas Media Awards.

You, the readers, have already made this paper your No 1: Our readership and circulation have bucked global trends and increased steadily since the paper was established in October 2004.

The Herald on Sunday is by far the biggest Sunday paper in Auckland
and the top half of the North Island.

Now, the journalistic profession has echoed your verdict, handing
the Herald on Sunday the newspaper industry's ultimate accolade at a black-tie ceremony in Auckland on Friday night.

Former editor Shayne Currie, accepting the awards on behalf of the
paper, said the honours were a huge tribute to the team that puts together the Herald on Sunday every week.

He added yesterday: "The win is testament to a brilliant, hardworking
staff but, more importantly, a team of people delivering quality journalism every week. We've always made our readers the priority, and strived to produce a newspaper that's relevant, interesting and packing a punch."

Currie has now taken up a position at the daily New Zealand Herald, and his successor Bryce Johns will start as editor next month.

Johns said: "With readership and circulation growth already in the bank, this award emphasises the Herald on Sunday is going places.

"Readers are well-served by the top journalist team in the country. I can't wait to start and help make a great paper even better."

The chief judge of the overall newspaper award, Jim Tully, praised
the Herald on Sunday. He said in its awards portfolio of four editions it had demonstrated it could consistently break strong news stories, rather than just responding - albeit superbly - to the newsworthy events of the week.

"The Herald on Sunday is always lively, brash and demanding to be noticed but it also delivers significant scoops across a broad
spectrum of news and fresh angles on stories already reported in daily
media," he said.

Front-page scoops in the winning editions included the whereabouts
of the multimillion-dollar Westpac Bank fugitives, exclusive interviews
with two jurors in the David Bain murder retrial, and the Serious Fraud
Office inquiry into ASB fraudster Stephen Versalko.

The Herald on Sunday's political coverage also won plaudits: journalist Joseph Barratt won the award for best junior reporter covering politics, and Matt Nippert was a finalist in the senior category.

And the Herald on Sunday's respected rugby writer Gregor Paul
won best newsstand magazine award for NZ Rugby World, which he
also edits.

Yet the list of plaudits for individual journalists barely even
begins to acknowledge the talent and professionalism demonstrated
by this newspaper's staff.

The Best Newspaper award was extraordinarily well-deserved - testament to the hard work of the team of people who write, illustrate,
edit and design this paper every week.

And while the Qantas Media Awards judges deliver their verdict but once a year, you - our readers - deliver your verdicts every
Sunday We know that. And we thank you for it.