Taupo Times reporter gets finals nod

A Taupo Times reporter has received three finalist nominations in the prestigious Canon Media Awards.

Senior reporter Matt Shand is a finalist in the best regional reporter, best crime and punishment feature and best general feature categories.

The awards are the most sought after prize in New Zealand journalism with more than 2100 entries.

Taupo Times editor Daniel Hutchinson said only a handful of reporters in the country have been nominated in three different categories and it was a huge achievement.

‘‘Matt has been central to our efforts over the past year or so, for both the Taupo Times and the wider Fairfax Media group, and he really sums up how a reporter should approach their work.’’

Shand is taking up another role with Fairfax Media next week, as its regional reporter in the Bay of Plenty.

‘‘I suspect we will still see Matt’s by-line popping up in the Taupo Times occasionally,’’ Hutchinson said.

Shand came to Taupo in late 2015, from Australia, just weeks before his wife gave birth to their first child Maia.

He says journalism was more than a job for him.

‘‘If you are doing it for a pay cheque you are in the wrong business,’’ he said.

‘‘You have talk to people who are their wits end, or have just faced tragedy, or have achieved something great or want to make a difference to the community.’’

Some of the articles nominated include the ongoing coverage of the tragedy that occurred in town when baby Moko was lost, the growing homeless problem in Taupo and the local gangs undergoing vigilante action against the P epidemic.

‘‘Baby Moko was the hardest story to work on,’’ he said.

‘‘I knew we had to do justice by that boy so I just laid out every ugly detail. People needed to know what happened. But they also needed to know that he was also a three-year-old boy.

‘‘He loved Bob the Builder and Spongebob Square Pants. He liked tractors, but not when they were turned on. He was your brother, nephew, cousin, grandson and he didn’t deserve what happened. I am grateful his family let me tell that story so his memory was not just how his life ended, but how we was alive.’’

The winners are announced on May 19.