Waititi Nzer of the Year

Director Taika Waititi has been named New Zealander of the Year at the annual awards ceremony celebrating Kiwi culture and achievement last night.

He was joined by resettled refugee advocate Rez Gardi, former Royal New Zealand Ballet and Film Festival manager Sue Paterson and medical scientist professor Ed Gane as category winners.

Waititi‘s award is in recognition of his work taking New Zealand culture to cinemas worldwide. He was unable to receive his award at the ceremony as he’s currently directing Marvel superhero film Thor in Los Angeles. Hunt for the Wilderpeople star Julian Dennison collected Waititi‘s award, alongside Waititi‘s wife, film producer Chelsea Winstanley.

Chief judge Cameron Bennett said Waititi received the award for his commitment to exploring and promoting New Zealand’s identity and his work to reduce youth suicide rates and poverty through providing creative outlets. ’’Waititi is an exciting and inspiring example of who and what we are as Kiwis. Creative, courageous, audacious, subversive and downright funny.’’

His latest work, Hunt For The Wilderpeople, was acclaimed as a touching yet hilarious comedy about a Kiwi boy from the wrong side of the tracks. It screened across Europe, the US, Australia and New Zealand.

Young New Zealander of the Year was awarded to Gardi, a 25-year-old former refugee whose family sought safety in New Zealand after nine years in limbo trying to escape war, genocide and hunger.

Gardi achieved incredible feats in New Zealand, with positions such as United Nations human rights intern and youth delegate at the Women Deliver Conference in Denmark on her CV. She achieved all that and more despite arriving in New Zealand without any English and being bullied at school. Gardi said following 9/11 she was often called a terrorist by school bullies. Now a lawyer, she passionately advocates to help refugees.

Gane received the Innovator of the Year title for his work on a cure for the hepatitis C virus. The disease affected 50,000 New Zealanders, the award’s board said. The virus can be life threatening. Gane, who worked with scientists across the world, discovered that a short course of tablets could cure the disease.

For her services to culture – most noticeably through managing the Royal New Zealand Ballet and the New Zealand Film Festival – Sue Paterson was announced as Senior New Zealander of the Year. - Fairfax NZ