Bay creative scoops national award

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The New Zealand Media Awards held their fiftieth annual event on Saturday 27 May, and one of the night's big wins was brought home to Golden Bay.

The Sunday Star-Times won the coveted Best Newspaper Front Page Award for its parent organisation Stuff, but few people know that the all-important page one “face” of that national paper is designed each week in Tākaka.

The GB Weekly journalist and book illustrator Alistair Hughes has contracted to Stuff over the past two years, working remotely from home. One of his regular tasks is to design the fronts of their Sunday newspapers.

“The nomination was a bit unusual this year,” Al explains, “because for possibly the first time, the Sunday News was also shortlisted in the same category. And as I design that too, we were actually competing against ourselves.”

He is quick to acknowledge that the front page is very much a team effort, with stories and images coming from a variety of journalists, photographers, and subeditors. However, the Sunday Star-Times also regularly showcases Al’s illustration work on their front, as they did last weekend. “I applaud Stuff for continuing to recognise the importance of illustration in journalism. An artist can provide visual immediacy, imagination, and specific relevance to a story, which a photo library never can.”

Because the Sunday papers are put together on a Saturday night, only a few Sunday Star-Times staff were able to attend the awards; the rest staying behind to put together the next day’s paper. “But we were able to follow a live feed of the event and comment on a private channel while we worked, which was frequently hilarious.”

The front page of any paper must be the most up-to-date element, and Al has sometimes had to completely redesign it half an hour before the final deadline, because of important breaking news. The sometimes-errant nature of the internet in Golden Bay can also add additional stress.

“But I’m grateful for technology, which allows me to work on national newspapers based in Auckland from my home office.

Even if Saturday night shifts can be a little antisocial.”

Al is always happy to get to the end of the night with files safely proofed and sent to the presses. “Finishing that Saturday night by popping a byline announcing our win at the top of the page was particularly sweet.”