Winners are grinners: NZME Taranaki team win at 2022 NZ Radio Awards

From left, Carole Morgan, Nikki Verbeet, Colleen Deegan and Tracey Blake with Beth Findlay-Heath (front). Photo/ Supplied

New Zealand Media and Entertainment (NZME) is celebrating one of its biggest wins at the NZ Radio Awards, taking out six of the seven awards in the premier category and winning the majority of the overall awards pool.

The 2022 NZ Radio Awards were held last week and delivered via a live webcast, with teams across the country tuning in for the radio industry's much-anticipated annual event.

One of the NZME teams to win an award on the night was the Taranaki NZME team, who received Sales Team of the Year.

The award recognised the hard work put in by Nikki Verbeet, Tracey Blake, Colleen Deegan, Carole Morgan and Julie Petley who made up the team at the time of entering the awards. Since then, the team have been joined by media specialist Glen Bullen and Taranaki general sales manager Beth Findlay-Heath, while Nikki is now the general sales manager for Manawatu, Whanganui and Pahiatua.

Beth says the award is well-deserved.

"To win this award is testament to the hard work, dedication and commitment our Taranaki team has shown, helping their clients build successful advertising campaigns that incorporate integrated media solutions.

"Our media specialists take the time to get to know each business and understand what their advertising and media needs are, before working on efficient and effective campaigns that reach the right target market and customers. Our specialists are also professional, trustworthy, knowledgeable and engaging.

"We thank our valued clients for supporting our Taranaki team and allowing them to gain insights into your business, your commercial needs, and to ultimately deliver results that help your business grow."

The Taranaki win was one of many wins for NZME at this year's awards, with Newstalk ZB winning Station of the Year for a second consecutive year, and ZB Breakfast host Mike Hosking winning the Sir Paul Holmes Broadcaster of the Year Award for the third time. Heather du Plessis-Allan was awarded Best Breakfast/Drive Presenter and Marcus Lush won Best Non-Breakfast or Drive Presenter.

ZB's Niva Retimanu was named Best Newsreader, D'Arcy Waldegrave was named Best Sportsreader, Presenter or Commentator and ZB's news team was honoured for Best News Coverage for its work on the 2021 Covid/Delta outbreak.

Content Director/Team of the Year went to Jason Winstanley, Edward Swift and Laura Heathcote of the Newstalk ZB Network. Newstalk ZB won 11 awards in total, while station owner NZME was celebrating all-round success, winning six of the overall seven premier awards.

NZME's popular ZM network celebrated seven awards in total, including Fletch, Vaughan and Megan taking out the hugely competitive Best Network Team Show – the fifth year in a row the breakfast show has won. ZM also won the Blackie Award for host Hayley Sproull's Driver's Licence segment.

Radio Hauraki and The Hits both won two awards each, with Hauraki's Matt and Jerry Podcast winning Best Podcast by a Radio Show, and The Hits winning Best Client Promotion/Activation for Jono & Ben's Battery Operated Torch Tour with The Warehouse. Gold AM – now Gold Sport – also took out an award for its coverage of the ICC World Test Championship.

Beth says the number of awards won by NZME doesn't surprise her.

"NZME is such a dynamic and progressive company that combines radio, digital and print to help each business reach millions of Kiwis every day. But what makes NZME so successful is building key relationships with clients, and the wider Taranaki community to drive collaboration for business improvement. It's all about great people working together."