Editorial: Heroes' stories inspire

Pride of New Zealand awards. Maera Maki-Anderson, Murupara

On Wednesday night I had the privilege of attending the inaugural Pride of New Zealand Awards.

The spark and dazzle of the star-studded event at the Auckland Museum belied the humble, down-to-earth character of the 24 finalists - Kiwi heroes from all walks of life.

Awards host Oscar Kightley quipped that the finalists' stories - tales of bravery, integrity, dedication, determination and generosity made him feel inadequate - but for many of us that was more than a joke.

Certainly watching and listening to the reasons each of these people was nominated gave pause for reflection.

What an amazing group of people.

We were proud to support the awards - sponsored by the New Zealand Herald, The Hits and TSB Bank - and we are blessed to have two of the Pride of New Zealand award winners hail from our region.

Tokoroa's Julie King - the Rotorua Daily Post's Person of the Month for April - won the Community Spirit Award.

The legal-high campaigner whose efforts led to marches around the country started the Love Soup kitchen in her town.

She said she wanted to attend the awards to meet other nominees who'd started a similar service in their towns.

Murupara's Maera Maki-Anderson won the Emergency Services Award.

The volunteer firefighter of 26 years is credited with singlehandedly saving the Kaingaroa Forest Fire Brigade with her recruitment efforts when numbers were dwindling.

Each of the seven supreme winners is an inspiration, and I hope the other finalists can take tremendous heart from the fact that although they didn't win, so many New Zealanders now know their incredible stories.