Stuff wins top media award for third year running

Stuff Group has won Digital News Provider of the Year for the third year running at the 2026 New Zealand Media Awards, with the country's most popular news site stuff.co.nz wowing judges with its "dynamic, comprehensive" coverage and AI innovation.

The country's top media talent was honoured at Friday night's event, which saw Stuff Group take out 11 of the top categories including Best Coverage of a Major News Event for stuff.co.nz's bold reporting of the Tom Phillips shooting, Weekly Newspaper of the Year for the Sunday Star-Times, and both winner and runner up in the Best Editorial Campaign category for the Waikato Times' "Fighting for our Med School" series and Stuff's campaign to teach 10,000 Kiwi kids to swim.

Stuff Owner and Publisher Sinead Boucher said this year's awards highlighted brilliant journalism right across the industry in a year of impactful and important news.

"While I am extremely proud of all of the Stuff editorial teams and the tangible, positive difference they make every day for our audiences and advertisers, we know that journalism excellence across all media organisations is more important than ever, as New Zealanders grapple with a world awash in misinformation," she says.

"I want to congratulate every single journalist, editor and media company who was honoured at this year's awards. Great journalism takes investment, care and often bravery. The best work of our competitors raises the bar for all of us."

Other Stuff Group awards included Best Newspaper Magazine for Sunday; Best News Photography for Braden Fastier from the Nelson Mail; Best Columnist for The Post's Virginia Fallon; Best Scoop for stuff.co.nz's Tony Wall for his work on the hunt for Tom Phillips; The Press' Michael Wright winning the Gordon McLauchlan Journalism Award and Cartoonist of the Year awarded to Sharon Murdoch. Paddy Gower's bowel cancer documentary, produced with stuff.co.nz, took Best Current Affairs (Short).

Stuff Digital's Managing Director Nigel Tutt said stuff.co.nz again being awarded best Digital News Provider was proof that New Zealanders want quality journalism over slop.

"This is critical for our advertising partners as we know that reach combined with premium journalism will deliver better commercial results than cheap alternatives," he says. "When the country's largest digital news provider is also the best digital news provider, you have an unbeatable platform to connect with your customers."