Herald journo takes out national engineering award

November 2008

New Zealand Herald journalist Simon Collins won the Award for Excellence in Engineering Journalism at last night’s New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards at TE PAPA, Wellington.

The award acknowledges the contribution of New Zealand’s media to the publics’ understanding of the engineering industry.

Judge Dr Grant Hannis from Massey University – and a Qantas Media Award judge said Simon’s article “Raising  Standards” was an excellent example of investigative journalism where issues of falling standards in structural engineering in New Zealand where addressed.  

“Readers are well served by Simon thorough reporting. Rather than taking each claim about structural engineering at face value, Simon undertook lengthy research to check out each claim, studying documents and interviewing a wide range of people in the industry,” says Dr Hannis.

The award for Excellence in Engineering Journalism is open to print, radio and television journalists and as the winner, Simon receives $5,000.00 in prize money.

The other finalists for the award included Rod Vaughan from TV3’s 60 minutes “Fuels Paradise” programme and North & South’s Mike White’s article “Blowing in the Wind.”

The fourth New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards are the premier awards for New Zealand engineering professionals. The awards are presented in two major areas: Individual Awards, that recognise leadership, entrepreneurship, and our young engineers; and Category Awards, that recognise achievement in the various industry areas, together with a Supreme Award for the best of the Category winners.

The New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards are hosted by a consortium of five partners and 10 contributing organisations. The partners are: Centre for Advanced Engineering (CAE); Association of Local Government Engineering New Zealand Incorporated (INGENIUM); Electricity Engineers Association of New Zealand (EEA); Association of Consulting Engineers of New Zealand (ACENZ) and the Institution of Professional Engineers of New Zealand (IPENZ.)

For more information contact:
Chief Executive, IPENZ, Engineers New Zealand.
Mobile: 021 311 879
DDI: 04 474 8935
Prepared by Julie Buchanan, Communications Manager, IPENZ, Engineers NZ,
Mobile: 021 479 885, DDI: 04 473 2028