๐ How New Zealander of the Year made me feel beautifully inadequate
Re: News journalist Baz Macdonald was at this year's New Zealander of the Year awards.
Re: News journalist Baz Macdonald was at this year's New Zealander of the Year awards to interview the winners.ย
He shares the intense and inspiring experience of being surrounded by our countryโs best and brightest.
โDo you feel inadequate yet? Weโre only getting started.โ
Standing at the back of a banquet hall filled with 900 of our country's most inspiring, influential and dedicated people at this year's New Zealander of the Year gala, these opening remarks from Mฤori language academic and broadcaster Scotty Morrison felt like he was speaking straight to me.ย
I was there to interview the winners of this year's eight awards - from Young New Zealander of the Year, to Environmental Hero, and the illustrious title of New Zealander of the Year.
An intimidating prospect that only became more daunting as the evening progressed.
This was my first time attending the awards, and beforehand people who had previously attended said the same thing: โIt made me wonder what Iโve been doing with my lifeโ.
I thought that was a weirdly negative thing to say about an event like this, but after hearing from and speaking to these amazing nominees and winners I finally understood what they meant.
Itโs not a self-pitying statement, but an aspirational one.
An evening hearing from such amazing people didnโt make me second guess the decisions I had made in my life, but inspired me to make better, braver and more charitable ones going forward.
These were all people who had looked at their lives and communities and asked what they could do to make it better for themselves and others.
Like Clara Aperahama-Kopa, a mother who opened New Zealandโs first full-immersion preschool for neurodiverse and disabled tamariki after realising there were no kura kaupapa available for her own special needs son.
Or Stu Muir, a Waikato dairy farmer who has transformed large swathes of his land back into a wetland and spoke so passionately about leading his community and industry by example.ย
(Note: Stu Muir is actually in my documentary series on the dairy industry Milk and Money, and it was so awesome to see him be recognised like this for his vision and work to improve the industry).
These are intimidating examples, but the way they spoke about their work made it seem so achievable.
We donโt need to solve every problem in the world, we just have to identify one thing in our own life we can realistically make better and dedicate ourselves to making it so.ย
I woke up the next day with my eyes open to opportunities to do just that.
If you want to be equally inspired, check out the highlights package of this year's New Zealander of the Year event (including my interviews with the winners) running 12pm this Sunday on channel 1, and streaming on TVNZ+.
Re: News recommendationsย
Thatโs already one bloody good recommended viewing, but here are a few more.
James Must-a-pic his mum a man: James Mustapicโs new series on TVNZ+ in which he searches for a partner for his mum is bloody hilarious. His mum is so sweet, which makes the hilariously uncomfortable situations and conversations he puts her in all the better.ย
While youโre on a Mustapic kick, you should also check out the Re: News series Queer Academy on TVNZ+, also hosted by James Mustapic. An entertaining and revealing exploration of the things queer communities do best.
And while Iโm pimping Re: News series, seeing Stu Muir present last night really inspired me to revisit our series on the NZ dairy industry, Milk and Money. It explores the issues and possibilities of our countryโs largest industry, and is still as relevant today as it was when it was released in 2021.