The red carpet was rolled out in Auckland last night where the best in television gathered to celebrate an extraordinary year at the 2020 New Zealand Television Awards.
Trophies across 40 categories were presented at the sell-out event.
In the news and current affairs categories, Three’s Newshub won Best News Coverage and Newshub’s Investigations Reporter Michael Morrah was named Reporter of the Year; The Hui’s Mihingarangi Forbes (Three) received the award for Best Presenter: News and Current Affairs; The Spinoff won Best Sports Programme for its documentary series Scratched: Aotearoa’s Lost Sporting Legends; and Stuff Circuit won Best Current Affairs Programme.
Seven Sharp’s Hilary Barry (TVNZ 1) was named TV Personality of the Year, while veteran television executive Andrew Shaw was honoured as 2020 TV Legend.
The Luminaries dominated the drama craft categories with multiple wins including Best Script: Drama for Eleanor Catton, and lead actor Himesh Patel won the award for Best Actor.
Great Southern Television’s One Lane Bridge (TVNZ 1) was named NZ On Air Best Drama Series.
Paul Yates, Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi won Best Comedy/Comedy Entertainment Programme for season 2 of Wellington Paranormal (TVNZ 2).
Elsewhere in the scripted categories, Miriama McDowell won Best Actress for her role in South Pacific Pictures’ drama series Head High (Three), her co-star Jayden Daniels was named Best Supporting Actor, and Anna Jullienne won Best Supporting Actress for her role in South Pacific Pictures/Three comedy series Mean Mums.
Hyundai Country Calendar (TVNZ 1) was named Best Factual Series, Rogue Productions’ rugby doco By the Balls (TVNZ 1) won NZ On Air Best Documentary while Three’s Patrick Gower was named Best Presenter: Entertainment for Patrick Gower: On Weed and his director, Justin Hawkes, was named Best Director Documentary/Factual.
