The Herald New Zealander of the Year has been celebrating those who make an outstanding contribution to New Zealand and beyond for 25 years. For the first time this year, together with our radio partner The Hits, we are introducing a People’s Choice Award
He began competing in para- athletics only a couple of years before the 2016 games but Liam Malone stunned the sporting world and came home a double gold medallist — plus a silver for good measure. He returned from the Rio Paralympics to exams and surviving on his student allowance — together with a flood of MC invitations, corporate sponsorship offers, charitable opportunities, television offers and fan mail.
But the 22- year- old has already begun forward planning. He wants to set up a foundation to give other kids with disabilities the tools to engineer their own pathways.
And he wants to compete against able- bodied athletes to become the fastest man in the world over 400m.
The Kiwi blade runner’s life story is heartbreaking — he had both legs amputated below the knee at 18 months and lost his mum and other family members to cancer. Yet he has risen to the top through sheer determination and always with humility and a sense of humour. If the race for Auckland’s mayor was won on social media, Chloe Swarbrick would have left everyone else in her digital dust. She entered the mayoral race as an unknown with a virtually non- existent budget.
At just 22, she was dismissed out of hand by many but she galvanised a disengaged youth and proved herself time and again as a genuine contender. Her grasp of politics and policy and her debating ability — recognised after a breakthrough appearance on a TV talk show — saw her compared to a young Helen Clark. She still surprised many, coming third in the race for the mayoralty.
Swarbrick has since joined the Greens and intends to stand in the general election next year. She reinvigorated local politics, brought a breath of fresh air to the mayoral race and generated interest among typically disengaged youth. In May last year, melanoma sufferer Leisa Renwick was given just weeks to live. She survived thanks to breakthrough drug Keytruda and made it her mission to give others the same chance. Having fought for her life she took her fight to the Government.
What started as a private campaign to get state funding evolved into a national movement that led to the steps of Parliament. She gathered 11,000 signatures petitioning for funding.
“Only those with the means to pay can access medicines that can save our lives. The wealthy are offered treatment and the poor are sent home to die and that’s a fact,” she said.
Today she i s back at work “and paying taxes”.
Her powerfully emotive campaign was a success, and will save a predicted 120 lives a year. When Kaitaia College student Nina Griffiths lost two friends to suicide she was compelled to act. She organised a community korero with comedian Mike King as guest speaker and launched a youth- led suicide prevention and awareness programme. Hundreds turned up in support and many more began to follow the campaign on social media.
Griffiths then won a $ 10,000 AMP national scholarship, which she put straight into a youth drop- in centre attracting 300 people every day — replacing a centre that had closed due to lack of Government funding.
Six people under 25 took their own lives in Kaitaia in three months this year. The established thinking is that talking about suicide may lead to copycat deaths, but Griffiths — with the backing of mental health professionals — has fought to argue that young people do need to talk. To vote on who you think deserves to be named winner of The Hits People’s Choice Award go to: Voting closes a midnight next Saturday, Dec 10. The winner will be announced together with our New
Vote now
“For myself, I lost two mates in the past couple of months and we shouldn’t have to lose so many before we do something,” Griffiths said.
“The reluctance to talk about it or do something is not working as a preventative.” There are too many people to mention who went above and beyond in the aftermath of the Kaikoura earthquake but father and son Major and Jason Timms personified the spirit of the community.
Takahanga marae kaumatua Major Timms was the face of the marae as it threw open its doors to locals and tourists stranded there. For a week it became a refuge for safety and camaraderie serving more than 10,000 meals and giving out 1700 care packages.
Many of those meals came from chef Jason, who immersed himself in cooking for up to 1200 people a day — despite damage to his own home, which he didn’t go back to for several days so he could continue cooking.
“We’ve done a hell of a job, because that’s who we are, that’s our way,” Major Timms said, speaking about the marae and its people.
“We’re here to help, we’ll help anybody. We’re not here to give up.” Peter Beck is the very definition of daring to dream big.
The Rocket Lab founder and CEO is aiming to launch the most powerful machine to fly from this country into orbit. Beck set up Rocket Lab in 2006. He has attracted investment from the Government as well as substantial Silicon Valley funding and backing from Lockheed Martin.
The commercial launch business is estimated to be worth $ 9 billion glob- ally and Rocket Lab aims to be a small, nimble player.
The next stage of Beck’s plan to put New Zealand in the space race i s a series of test flights starting early next year from Mahia, south of Gisborne.
If successful, they will lead to commercial flights next year, propelling New Zealand into a unique place in the space industry by launching the first commercial orbital missions from a private pad. This year marked the fifth anniversary of the murder of Mark Longley’s 17- year- old daughter Emily at the hands of her ex- boyfriend. It is a pain that never goes away and Mark used the anniversary to highlight the terrible toll of family violence.
That i s something he has dedicated a large part of his life to as a White Ribbon ambassador.
In his role, Longley speaks at events up and down the country and shares his tragedy in a bid to educate, create awareness and ultimately, to prevent any other parent losing a child in the same way.
He works tirelessly to push the message about intimate partner violence, dangerous relationships and the warning signs — information that