Twelve new awards have been added to the New Zealand Radio Awards. Based on feedback from judges and radio stations employees these new awards have been created to recognise previously unacknowledged talent.

Four of these new awards are due to a major change to the Best New Broadcaster category. There has traditionally be a high demand for the Best New Broadcaster award however with the diverse nature of the entries due to the different craft groups it has been decided to introduce new awards to recognise the different skill areas of the new broadcasters. These include the introduction of Best New Broadcaster awards for Air Personality, Journalist, Technical and Creative or Promotions. The winner of each craft group award will receive $500 prize money from the Bill Toft Memorial Fund and an overall Best New Broadcaster will be chosen from the four craft group winners to receive a $1,000 cash prize.

A new award has been created for ‘Best Talk Back Host or Hosts’ in the Air Personality category. This is distinguished from the ‘Best Talk or Current Affairs Host or Hosts’ award so it can better acknowledge talent in host driven ‘phone-in’ shows.
In the Station of the Year Category there is the introduction of a new ‘Maori Station of the Year’ award to acknowledge the efforts of the large number of Iwi stations broadcasting in New Zealand.

The introduction of the ‘Best Sports Journalist’ award in the Best Sport category and the ‘Best Commercial / Imaging Voice Talent’ award in the Best Commercial category has been introduced to acknowledge previously unrecognised yet essential talent.
The Sales Person of the Year Category has now been changed to be the Sales Team of the Year Category to recognise the importance of the group effort of sales teams within radio stations.

The final change to the awards was in the Best Community Access Category, due to demand the Best Spoken / Informational Programme has now been separated into two awards to acknowledge outstanding performance in English or Non-English programming.

The introduction this year of new awards will play a part in growing standards and helping to drive radio to new levels. It is important that those who work hard everyday to deliver outstanding content in all facets of the industry have the opportunity to be acknowledged and thanked for their outstanding contributions”, said David Brice Radio Awards Committee chairperson.