Everybody needs a hero – and luckily New Zealand is not short of them. The New Zealand Herald is today nominating Our Heroes for 2025 to highlight the achievements of Kiwis across news, sport, business, entertainment and lifestyle.
We’re honouring men and women (and sometimes boys and girls) from across
the country who have made a positive impact on their community and the lives of others. The spectrum is broad – from police officers to teen inventors, campaigners, athletes, educators, businesspeople… they’re part of a group of people who made New Zealand a better place this year.
Our judges set out to recognise a wide range of human achievements, ranging from acts of one-off heroism to a lifetime’s achievement. Like every year, we’ve stuck to a few hard and fast rules when selecting our winners and finalists – including no politicians and no repeat winners.
Every single day across New Zealand there are people who lead with heart and courage. These are Our Heroes. These are their stories.
Kylie Schaare (left) and Nicola Reeves played a key part in bringing former police Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming’s conduct to light.
WINNER: Kylie Schaare, Nicola Reeves and ‘Officer O’
New Zealanders were stunned when an Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) investigation into former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming revealed “interference at the highest levels of police”, according to Police Commissioner Richard Chambers.
Too many senior officers failed to do their duty and some actively hindered a full investigation into serious allegations against McSkimming by a woman known only as “Ms Z”.
However, three officers in particular stood their ground, bringing McSkimming’s conduct to light.
Among those officers who the report says displayed “commendable integrity and moral courage” are Detective Superintendent Kylie Schaare (Officer M), Detective Inspector Nicola Reeves (Officer D), and an unnamed detective (Officer O) at the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre (FTAC).
Had it not been for the actions of Officer M, now known to be Detective Superintendent Kylie Schaare, the report said it was “conceivable that Ms Z’s complaint may never have been heard”.
Schaare, the director of integrity and conduct, warned then Police Commissioner Andrew Coster of the huge organisational risk posed by the police’s off-the-books McSkimming investigation.
She suggested the complaint should be recorded in the database and later contacted the IPCA with her concerns. Soon after, the IPCA emailed Coster asking that police refer any complaints regarding McSkimming to them, which eventually forced senior police to start an official investigation through the correct channels.
“When she felt her concerns were not being heeded, she sought our support in elevating the matter,” the IPCA report said. “We commend her moral courage.”
Officer D, Detective Inspector Nicola Reeves, one of New Zealand’s most senior adult sexual assault investigators, was brought in when former Deputy Police Commissioner Tania Kura finally decided to explore the former unsworn staffer’s allegations.
The terms of reference for the investigation did not instruct Reeves to speak to Ms Z, but she insisted she should.
“I personally think it should be very simple in every police officer’s world,” Reeves told the IPCA.
“Doesn’t matter who the hell you are. We speak to the person, take a complaint and investigate it.”
Reeves told the IPCA the handling of the allegations before her involvement in the case was “appalling” and told the IPCA that McSkimming tried to “get rid of this” by “making [Ms Z] the villain”. She also told them that, “to an outsider looking in” and even to her, it looked “like a cover-up”.
Officer O, an unnamed detective at the FTAC, was tasked with looking through the emails allegedly sent by the woman. He was supposed to identify the risk she posed to McSkimming. Instead he drew senior officers’ attention to “allegations of both criminal offending and breaches of the police code of conduct”.
After combing through hundreds of emails sent to McSkimming, Officer O raised “multiple other accusations” that would “definitely not fit” the police code of conduct.
Chambers told the Herald the three officers are “an absolute credit” to NZ Police.
“I am very proud of those staff who stood up and did what was right,” he said, after hearing they were being named among the Herald’s Our Heroes for 2025.
“To me, it showed courage, integrity and leadership. I also know that they are such decent people, they will consider they were simply doing their jobs properly.”
FINALISTS:
Rotorua teen Cameron Moore is tackling one of mountain biking’s biggest safety issues. Photo / Supplied
Cameron Moore
Rotorua mountain biker Cameron Moore knows the sport he loves has many stories of riders left paralysed after going over the handlebars. Rather than let it scare him off his passion, he’s come up with a solution that could save lives.
The 16-year-old Rotorua Lakes High School student created an inflatable neck brace that senses a crash and rapidly inflates to support a rider’s neck to reduce the risk of serious spinal injury.
His prototype invention, called the Air Brace, earned him first place in the Year 11–13 category of the nationwide Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition this year.
While neck braces already existed in mountain biking, Cameron said many riders did not wear them because they were “uncomfortable”. His design aimed to fix that. The Air Brace uses small sensors that detect sudden, high-impact movement. When triggered, a mechanism inflates the neck support in the moment of a crash.
He is currently working on a second-stage prototype to make the design even more compact. He’s also working on a separate, but related, invention: a device that sits on the rider’s helmet to gather and measure crash data that he can use to refine the algorithm of the Air Brace.
The Rotorua teen is juggling his work on his inventions with school and a social life but says none of it has suffered. In fact, some of his best ideas for inventions come to him when he’s out on bike rides “so having fun with friends is part of it”.
Leonie Morris says stalking is a widespread problem. Photo / Kellie Blizard
Leonie Morris
Stalking is now a criminal offence in New Zealand, partly thanks to the tireless efforts of campaigner Leonie Morris, chairwoman of the Coalition for the Safety of Women and Children and Aotearoa Free From Stalking project lead.
The legislation passed its third reading in Parliament last month. It amends the Crimes Act to make stalking and harassment punishable by up to five years in prison, coming into force in May next year.
“We’re delighted that it has passed at last,” said Morris, who felt the Our Heroes recognition belonged to her whole team.
“We’re hoping that it will both increase New Zealanders’ understanding of how harmful stalking is and that it will provide protection for people, especially women, from stalking.”
The murder of Farzana Yaqubi by her stalker in 2022 put the issue in the spotlight, she said.
“It increased awareness considerably that, on the one hand, the police conduct authority found police failed to help Farzana, and of just how dangerous stalking can be.”
Overall, the passing of this legislation will contribute towards making New Zealand a safer place. “This is a widespread problem. The more attention is put on it, the more people understand that stalking is not about love, it’s about control.”
Havelock North’s Phoebe Driscoll helped raise over $11,000 in sustainable period products for hundreds of girls, diverting 1.2 million products from landfill. Photo / Rafaella Melo
Phoebe Driscoll
When NZME spoke to Phoebe Driscoll in May, the 18-year-old had already helped collect more than $11,000 in sustainable period products for 573 girls, diverting 1.2 million products from landfill.
When we caught up in late November, that amount had doubled to $22,000. And she’s not stopping here.
Nearly 100,000 girls are at risk of missing school because they cannot afford period products in Aotearoa. Phoebe Driscoll is on a mission to help fight period poverty in New Zealand.
Originally from Havelock North, the head girl at King’s College in Auckland co-founded the non-profit organisation Hello.Friend and partnered with Kiwi period care brand Hello Period to help provide free reusable period products to those who need them, while also removing the stigma around menstruation.
She has spent 2025 engaging with schools across the country on this topic and says the response has been amazing.
“We have empowered over 570 students with sustainable period care products. Doing the math, if each of these students uses their reusable products, over five years their families would save over $550,000 that would otherwise have been spent on single-use period products. And this could also divert more than one million single-use products from landfill.”
Driscoll, who heads to university in 2026, will continue to grow Hello.Friend’s mission of empowering high schoolers across the country.
“We are already working with schools, who are becoming ‘friends’ of Hello.Friend and integrating Hello.Friend directly into their existing health or social studies curriculums and who are looking to partner with us for their own product drives.”
David Squire is one of New Zealand’s leading choral conductors and a former music director of the New Zealand Youth Choir. Photo / Deane Cohen
David Squire
David Squire ended his 15-year tenure as music director of the New Zealand Youth Choir on a high note. He had already guided the choir through several victories and international accolades while mentoring some of the most talented youth singers in the country.
But this year Squire, a school music teacher for 35 years, led the choir to global victories at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod and the European Choir Games.
When he stepped down from the NZ Youth Choir a few months ago, the young members of the group gathered at his home for a potluck meal and shared gifts, including a handmade korowai and a book of reflections and memories from the last 15 years.
“It was really amazing,” Squire told the Herald.
Despite retiring, the leading educator says he is “busier than ever”, still teaching in schools and taking on school ensembles, choirs and orchestras.
Among other professional commitments, Squire is the artistic director for the 2026 Sing Aotearoa Festival in Rotorua over Labour Weekend. At the end of January, he is off to China to attend the International Schools Choral Music Society (ISCMS) Festival, Qingdao.
Xavier Roughan of Invercargill is currently studying at the University of Cambridge after winning a scholarship for his idea about a new treatment for dairy cows.
Xavier Roughan
While many other 15-year-olds prepared for NCEA this year, Xavier Roughan flew to the University of Cambridge to develop his biotechnology research.
The idea? A different kind of non-antibiotic treatment for mastitis in dairy cows, which has clinical trials supporting the concept’s viability and could have a global application worth up to $4 billion annually.
The path has not always been smooth for Xavier. The second eldest of five siblings raised in Invercargill by their dad Nick Roughan, he completed three years of treatment for leukaemia last year and this year has been studying at Scots College in Wellington alongside his brother Bentley, 14, after they both achieved a general excellence scholarship.
The experience at the University of Cambridge , he says, was “a complete eye-opener”. He made friendships with people from across the globe and learnt a lot about biotechnology. Now back in New Zealand, he has been focusing on his academic career.
“School is going well, I’ve improved a lot, which made me happy and made my father proud,” he told the Herald.
He knows creating his medicine will be a long process but hopes that one day an idea from an Invercargill teenager can be used in dairy farms across the globe.
Kalia Saia, a Year 5 student at Tauranga Waldorf School, saved a toddler after spotting them at the bottom of Baywave’s wave pool. Photo / Supplied
Kalia Saia
Tauranga 10-year-old Kalia Saia jumped into action when she saw a toddler lying at the bottom of Baywave’s busy wave pool. Her quick-thinking rescue saved the life of the 3-year-old who was “grey as concrete”, according to Kalia’s mum Kayla, by the time she was pulled out of the pool.
Kalia was playing with her friend when she saw the toddler lying motionless at the bottom of the pool. At first, she thought the girl was trying to see how long she could hold her breath underwater for. Then she realised “no bubbles were coming up”.
Kalia wasted no time; she surfaced for a big breath, before diving down to get the girl. The 10-year-old pulled the toddler to the surface, then passed her to her friend, so she could signal to the lifeguards for help.
The lifeguards began first aid and CPR and an ambulance took the toddler to Tauranga Hospital in critical condition.
Thanks to the actions of the Year 5 student at Tauranga Waldorf School, the toddler has made a full recovery.
Mum Kayla told the Herald that Kalia is “very shy” but is also “so proud” and has all the photos and articles written about her printed out and displayed in her bedroom. The Hato Hone St John cloak she was given, in recognition of her actions, also has pride of place, hanging from her cubby shelves in her room.
The proud mum says the family of the girl Kalia saved has been in touch and sent her “a beautiful message” describing their gratitude. They are based in Auckland but Kayla hopes the families can meet one day.
Fulton Hogan site engineer Arden Hermans has helped oversee some of Northland’s key infrastructure projects. Photo / Supplied
Arden Hermans
Whangārei engineer Arden Hermans doesn’t have many female peers in her industry, and she wants that to change. Hermans has this year been recognised for her outstanding work inspiring women to follow a career in what has traditionally been a male-dominated field.
As a consultant civil engineer with Beca, she has helped oversee some of Northland’s key infrastructure projects, such as Taipā Bridge, Northpower’s solar farms and Te Kamo High School’s rebuild.
Hermans wanted to share that passion for her job with others, founding Girls in Infrastructure so young women could learn more about the engineering and construction roles that have a high demand for workers.
The first event in Whangārei in 2019 was two years in the making, in part because schools were not convinced girls would be interested. Now Girls in Infrastructure has become an annual fixture in Northland and the first South Island event will happen in Christchurch in June next year.
Hermans is also looking at a potential new chapter of the Women Infrastructure Network in Tauranga in the new year.
“I feel truly humbled and undeserving of this recognition,” Hermans said when finding out she was one of Our Heroes of 2025.
“I will use this opportunity to continue opening doors for others and continue to help build the resilient, renewable, and sustainable infrastructure that New Zealand needs.”
Colin Dorreen has been praised by thousands of Rotorua residents after helping a disabled lady and numerous elderly people with their groceries during a weekend of wild weather. Photo / Supplied
Colin Dorreen
Rotorua teen Colin Dorreen didn’t know the shoppers he was helping outside Fenton St Woolworths would share his acts of kindness online and make him go viral.
It all started when the Year 11 Rotorua Boys’ High School student offered to help local woman Jenny Bushett outside Fenton St Woolworths after noticing she had a walker and a heavy load of groceries.
Waiting for her taxi, the 55-year-old, who lives with extensive nerve damage that often causes her to fall, watched as the 2.03m tall teen dashed through the rain, with arms full of groceries that weren’t his, helping one senior shopper after another to their cars.
Bushett snapped a quick photo of the “gentle giant” and posted it online. Thousands of people reacted to his act of kindness on local Facebook pages.
Colin’s online fame resulted in donations and even a job at the local Woolworths, where he still works now.
Woolworths Fenton St store manager Justin Herewini said Colin never sought recognition from staff for his “selfless act”, a gesture that spoke volumes about his “humble character and compassionate nature”.
Colin told the Herald he was simply trying to be helpful and never expected anyone to find out about it, much less thousands of strangers online.
He said being recognised on the street in the first couple of weeks was strange but great. He is grateful that his act of kindness ended up landing him a job, as well as donations to his fundraising efforts to go to the United States as an exchange student, a goal he still hopes to achieve.
Paul Dore of Manurewa went to the aid of a neighbour who was being attacked by two dogs. Photo / Cherie Howie
Paul Dore
When Paul Dore saw a man being attacked by two dogs on the street, he didn’t hesitate. The 70-year-old great-grandfather from Manurewa pulled over and immediately approached the dogs, trying everything he could to get them to let go of the man, including hitting them with one of his flip-flops.
By the time Dore spotted the victim, the man was stuck against a wall as the animals attacked him. There was not a lot of time to act, but Dore’s actions may have saved the man’s life.
Dore ended up with a few bites himself, but managed to get the dogs away from the man, who was bitten on his legs and hands.
Speaking to the Herald a few months after the incident, Dore recalled the moment he spotted the man being attacked by the dogs. “It was a fluke that I was going past when I was. I’d been working on my car and was a bit low on gas so thought I’d head home,” he recalled.
He said he only resorted to his flip-flop because it fell off his foot while he was trying to save the man from the dogs. “I was in a bit of a predicament so needed to go on the attack.
“I felt like I had to do something, the man was sliding down the fence. He was trying to defend himself with a shopping bag,” he added.
Dore and the man, who live about 300m away from each other, have since become friends.
New Zealand head coach Yvette McCausland-Durie during the Taini Jamison Trophy series against South Africa. Photo / Photosport
WINNER: Yvette McCausland-Durie
McCausland-Durie answered the call for her country. She stepped up – not once but twice – during an off-court saga where Silver Ferns coach Dame Noeline Taurua was abruptly stood down by Netball New Zealand.
McCausland-Durie, who hadn’t coached professional netball for the past two years, received the shock phone call from Netball NZ’s high-performance team just over a week before the Taini Jamison series against South Africa.
She has a strong recent history of stepping in to help troubled institutions. The three-time ANZ Premiership coach works in education at St Stephen’s School – also known as Tipene – a Bombay Hills boarding school for Māori and Pacific boys. McCausland-Durie and her husband, Nathan Durie, this year reopened the oldest Māori boarding school in Aotearoa after it closed its doors in 2000.
At the time, McCausland-Durie said the Taini Jamison series worked for her as it mostly ran over the school holidays. The Silver Ferns swept aside South Africa 3-0 and McCausland-Durie returned back to Tipene – interim job done. The coach got back to her day job running the school.
But as the Taurua and Netball NZ saga dragged on, McCausland-Durie’s interim role went from a week on the tools to “do you have an updated passport and any chance you can hang around until November?”
For the second time in less than a month, Netball NZ came calling. McCausland-Durie was asked on October 4 if she could become interim coach again, taking the team through to the end of the year. Ninety minutes after that phone call, Netball NZ released a statement saying Taurua would be sidelined for the remainder of the 2025 season after failed attempts at mediation.
Despite the messy situation off the court, which was alleged to have begun during a pre-season training camp where players claimed to feel “unsafe”, McCausland-Durie united the Silver Ferns squad.
Coaching a three-match series against world No 5 South Africa on short notice was a challenge enough, but now McCausland-Durie faced a four-match series against rivals Australia – multiple-time world champions and Commonwealth Games champions.
Australian sports teams across all codes are champions at sniffing out weakness. If they sense dissent within their opponents’ ranks, they are brutal. The scene was set for a bloodbath.
The first two games went as expected – the Diamonds were too good across the Tasman but the Silver Ferns showed impressive fight to win games three and four to set up an extra-time series decider in Christchurch. Australia won 12-11.
With Taurua reinstated as coach, but not joining the Northern Tour, the Silver Ferns won five of six games to close out the season with nine victories from 12 games. After clinching a series win over England with a third test victory in Manchester, McCausland-Durie said she was heading back to her day job.
“For me, it’s back to school on Monday. We fly out tomorrow and back to school on Monday. An absolute privilege. Hope we’ve made New Zealand proud.”
FINALISTS:
New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr celebrates after winning the men’s high jump at the World Indoor Athletics Championships. Photo / Getty Images
Hamish Kerr
The Olympic champion had a target on his back and it didn’t matter. Kerr completed the double and made it two world titles in two days for New Zealand, as he claimed high jump gold at the World Athletics Championships in September. The Paris Olympics gold medallist added his maiden world title by clearing 2.36m and edging out Korea’s Woo Sanghyeok. Czech Jan Stefela claimed bronze. Kerr’s win added a second title at the Tokyo National Stadium in as many days for New Zealand after Geordie Beamish won the 300m steeplechase a year after they both won indoor world titles at the same meet. “Today I had to fight for the gold. It was not an easy final for me,” said Kerr. “Many times I thought I wouldn’t win, but being able to fight and not give up is important.”
Kiwi golfer Ryan Fox celebrates after winning the RBC Canadian Open in Toronto. Photo / Photosport
Ryan Fox
Golf is a game of patience. For Fox, staying patient paid off in a big way in 2025.
In May, Fox became the ninth New Zealander to win on the PGA Tour when he took out a three-man playoff to claim the Myrtle Beach Classic in stunning fashion – by chipping in from 16m. A month later he won again. At the Canadian Open, Fox birdied the 72nd hole to force a playoff with Sam Burns after the American carded 62 in the final round to hold the clubhouse lead for two hours. In the playoff a winner couldn’t be found over three holes before Fox struck a stunning second shot on the par-five 18th to find the green and then two-putted for birdie and the victory on the fourth playoff hole.
“I’m still trying to process it,” Fox said after the victory in Toronto. “It’s crazy. The last four weeks I’ve played some of the best golf I’ve ever played and to get a couple of wins on the PGA Tour in a month is pretty surreal, to be honest.” The Canadian Open win secured Fox status on the PGA Tour for the next three years and entry to the signature events in 2026. Watch this space.
Hiroki Sakai was central to Auckland FC reaching the A-League final in their maiden season. Photo / Photosport
Hiroki Sakai
The Auckland FC skipper was a brilliant player and leader in their maiden season and set the early standards, both for young hopefuls and fellow visa players. The club hierarchy was desperate to establish the right culture, and Sakai drove that with his professionalism and humility as they claimed the Premier Plate in season one. His arrival was owed to a combination of serendipitous events. He won the Asian Champions League in 2023 – a lifetime goal – so he had nothing left to achieve in Japan. His wife was keen to live in Australasia and his agent spotted an article about a new Auckland A-League team in a Japanese newspaper, which started a chain reaction.
“One of my top five career moments – even my life – was the season opener against Brisbane,” Sakai told the Herald in May. He played a part in the club’s first goal and from there was vital in their charge towards the A-League semi-finals before falling just short of the final.
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott will lead New Zealand’s hopes at next year’s Winter Olympics in Italy. Photo / FIS Park & Pipe
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott
New Zealand’s golden girl of snow sport reached the top of the mountain again – crowned FIS Slopestyle World Champion in Corvatsch, Switzerland, in March. The 24-year-old Wānaka snowboarder claimed her record-breaking third slopestyle world title with a thrilling final run. Sadowski-Synnott had been sitting sixth with one run remaining. She left her best until last, stomping one of her trademark technical runs, leapfrogging into the top spot with the only score of the competition in the 90s.
“That was crazy, I messed up my first run and put so much pressure on myself coming into the last run, all the girls were riding so good, and I was stoked to watch everyone’s runs. It just vibed me up to land that run. I have never done that [run combination] in contest before so I am super stoked,” said Sadowski-Synnott. She leads New Zealand’s hopes at next year’s Winter Olympics in Italy, where she’ll be looking to add to her career haul of a gold, silver and bronze.
Tracksuit co-founders and co-CEOs Matt Herbert (left) and Connor Archbold.
WINNER: Connor Archbold and Matt Herbert
Four years ago, Tracksuit co-founders Connor Archbold and Matt Herbert set a goal: “Let’s build one of the fastest growing companies in New Zealand history.”
The pair saw that big firms could use multinationals such as Nielsen to track brand awareness of their products and the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, often on a six-figure budget.
Their start-up aimed to give smaller firms access to the same brand-tracking tools on a fraction of the budget – and with an always-on, user-friendly dashboard.
Their concept soon caught on with big firms, too – the likes of Goodman Fielder and Simplicity KiwiSaver here and Steve Madden in the US.
Recently, AI tools have been layered on to help marketers create their own surveys and encapsulate results.
Tracksuit co-founder and chief executive Connor Archbold says the company is built for speed and comfort. Photo / Dean Purcell
Staff numbers have grown from 25 to 190 over the past two years, powered by a series of venture capital raises – including a $42 million round in June that was one of the largest ever staged by a local firm.
Its founders expect it to be tracking 20,000 brands by year’s end.
Archbold and Herbert say they’ll always keep their base in Auckland but their business is now global.
It has recruited 30 staff for a New York office, Archbold said.
There’s also an office in Britain and Herbert has just been establishing a beachhead in Singapore.
The privately-held firm hasn’t released financials, but one of the earliest backers, who has also chipped in to follow-on raises, shared some key numbers with the Herald.
“Of the 360 companies we’ve funded, Tracksuit has been fastest to $1m, fastest to $10m, fastest to $20m and fastest to $30m revenue,” Icehouse Ventures chief executive Robbie Paul said earlier this week.
The start-up is now somewhere well north of $30m.
Where did the name “Tracksuit” come from?
“We wanted a name with the word ‘track’ in it. And the other thing that was really important early on was that everything had to be counter-positioning to what the incumbent market research companies were doing. They were ‘suits’ who show up and do big, expensive presentations, and we’re built for speed and comfort,” Archbold said.
“And we lean into it. We wear tracksuits. It matches our personalities. Don’t take ourselves too seriously.”
Yet their attitude to the bottom line is buttoned-down.
“Matt and I both have a lot of scar tissue from earlier start-ups where we weren’t so conscious of being efficient. So we started the business to be as efficient as possible and to make sure we never got into that position of needing to raise money to keep the lights on,” Archbold told the Herald earlier.
With Tracksuit topping this year’s Deloitte Fast 50, announced November 26, those lights are shining brightly.
What’s the founders’ top tip for start-ups who want to follow suit?
“One metric we used when we first started was ‘number of conversations’,” Herbert said.
“How many conversations are you having with your potential customers? It’s very easy to be internally focused and go and build, build, build – and then look up and realise that there’s no market. We would have a weekly competition for who could have the most conversations with prospects, partners and industry experts.”
FINALISTS:
Founder of The Free Legal Clinics Project and senior lawyer Keegan Jones.
Keegan Jones
Northland-raised Tauranga lawyer Keegan Jones established a trust that has so far helped hundreds of people who couldn’t afford a lawyer or did not know where to go with legal problems.
Jones founded The Free Legal Clinics Project, which is providing free, Māori-centric legal clinics in Kerikeri, Whangārei and Christchurch.
He also recently opened Tauranga’s first iwi-based free legal clinic, which aimed to increase access to justice and critical legal support.
In May, Jones was named in Forbes magazine’s 30 under 30 list.
He was the only New Zealander named in the “social impact” category of this year’s Forbes Asia list.
Jones (Ngāti Hine and Ngāti Porou), a lawyer at Northland-based law firm WRMK, was also recognised in this year’s Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards.
There, as a local hero medallist, he was praised for breaking down barriers to justice and transforming lives.
Jones said in November he was working with local iwi in Tauranga to establish a “legal waka” – a decommissioned ambulance to be used as a mobile legal clinic.
In the Bay of Plenty, he worked with Ngāti Ranginui and the Citizens Advice Bureau to establish the Tauranga clinic.
He has said the Māori world inspires his clinics but the legal services are open to everybody.
Syos Aerospace CEO and founder Samuel Vye completed a $70m drone deal with the British Government this year. Photo / Jason Dorday
Samuel Vye
Samuel Vye is founder, CEO and majority shareholder of fast-growing Mount Maunganui drone maker Syos.
Earlier this year Syos sold $70m of drones to Britain and is being touted as the next Rocket Lab.
And in October, Vye was in Auckland for the Defence Industry Strategy launch, demonstrating vehicles to political and military leaders.
He said the new strategy could help university graduates in technology take ideas to the defence sector.
“What we’ve seen in our experience, being small, being an SME … actually means that you’re really agile, and anyone who’s tracked the Ukrainian war notices that you need to be able to have spiral development and iterate in weeks.”
In October, Syos bought Bay Dynamics, a Tauranga maker of uncrewed submersibles.
That step into the underwater world followed Syos already putting its uncrewed vehicles into the domains of land, sea and air.
Syos was founded in 2021 but gained attention in April this year when it made the $70m drone deal during Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s visit to Britain.
Syos last year opened a European engineering and production facility at Fareham, Britain, where dozens of engineers are employed.
Vye has said Syos also planned to employ more people in Mount Maunganui.
Luke Campbell and Lucy Turner, co-founders of Vxt. Photo / Supplied
Luke Campbell and Lucy Turner
Luke Campbell and Lucy Turner are tapping into Silicon Valley capital, as they grow the technology business they founded as university students in 2018.
The company, VXT, provides an AI-powered phone system for professional services. Initially developed as a voicemail transcription tool, it now offers automated call summaries and integrations for law firms, recruiters and accountants.
The idea is to offer professionals a tool to streamline the way they work, putting an end to Microsoft Teams, according to Campbell.
Earlier this year, the Herald reported VXT raised $2.5m, at a $45m valuation, including backing from Silicon Valley venture capital firm Alpine VC.
It has also been backed by local VCs Global From Day One (GD1) and Phase One Ventures.
Campbell said VXT’s revenue was rising by 10% a month, as the company looked to hire more staff.
He said that at its current growth rate, he expected to approach $100m in annual recurring revenue within three years or so.
Campbell and Turner were named in the 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list.
Calocurb CEO Sarah Kennedy has found success in the US with the company’s appetite suppressant, which is derived from hops grown in New Zealand. Photo / Supplied
Sarah Kennedy
Sarah Kennedy is riding the Ozempic wave in the US, doubling down in that market with her natural weight loss supplement.
Calocurb’s active ingredient, derived from hops grown in Motueka, is the patented Amarasate. It is pitched as a trigger of a hormone that makes you feel full, making it a natural, more affordable alternative to the two injectable pharmaceuticals that have hit headlines over the past couple of years: Ozempic and Wegovy.
Calocurb can also complement pharmaceuticals, as users can take it when they come off their medication to keep the weight off.
Kennedy told the Herald manufacturing was on track to double to 15m Calocurb capsules in the next 12 months – its revenue expected to double accordingly to $10m.
In September, the American Chamber of Commerce in New Zealand named Calocurb as Exporter of the Year to the US, Consumer Goods.
Assuming the US expansion goes well, Kennedy will follow up with expansion into Britain, Canada and Australia.
Nigel Latta died in September after being diagnosed with gastric cancer in 2024.
WINNER: Nigel Latta
Nigel Latta defined a hero as someone willing to do the right thing, especially if they risk giving up something of themselves.
He deemed them all the more heroic if they were humble in their quest to do so.
The respected clinical psychologist, author, producer and broadcaster died on September 30, aged 58, after being diagnosed with gastric cancer in 2024.
Two months after his death, on the couple’s anniversary, his wife, Natalie Flynn, tells the Herald that despite being, by his definition, a hero in his field, he was “self-effacing” and “would have laughed off the idea” of officially being hailed one.
“In a million different ways he went well out of his way to find and correct injustices and inequalities: ‘to give everyone a fair shake’,” says Flynn.
“He would often ease people’s suffering with no recognition or extrinsic reward.”
Flynn says since Latta’s passing, she regularly receives messages from people telling her how he supported them, even when he was nearing the end of his cancer battle.
Natalie Flynn says she’s “heartbroken” after husband Nigel Latta’s death but “that’s the price of having experienced deep love”. Photo / Instagram
In the two months without him, Flynn, who is also a psychologist, says she’s naturally struggled to find her way but plans to honour his wishes for her future in time.
“As would be expected, I’m heartbroken. And that’s the price of having experienced deep love, which I wouldn’t trade for anything.
“But Nigel was clear that his wish for me is to find joy again and that I need to be brave to do this. I certainly don’t always feel brave, but I’m trying to behave bravely, and as a result I’m finding satisfaction and meaning in life. I haven’t stumbled upon actual joy yet. But I know I’ll get there.”
Flynn says the five kids they share between them are adjusting in their own ways, at their own speeds.
“They’ve all loved and been loved by such a wonderful person. So, there’s a lot for them to cling on to during this time.”
Something the family take comfort in is the opportunity to honour and share the legacy he created off and on screen.
In many ways, Latta’s TV work was ahead of his time, investigating difficult subjects and making complicated information a little easier to understand.
He spent time in prisons to learn more about the psychological effects of New Zealand’s criminal system, tackled questions about addiction, investigated scammers, and successfully championed mental health.
He was well known for his no-nonsense parenting advice, advocating for practical strategies in raising children. He was nominated for Best Presenter at the 2011 Aotearoa Film and Television Awards for The Politically Incorrect Guide To Teenagers, which was also nominated for Best Information Programme.
Latta was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2012 for his contributions to psychology.
In 2016, he co-founded production company Ruckus Media, which produced his own content and feature films such as Born This Way: Awa’s Story and Stan.
The day before his death, his final book, Lessons on Living, was released, and – of the nine books he wrote – it was the one that came easiest to him.
“He described this book as his ‘most honest one’ and told me that it practically wrote itself,” says Flynn.
She says Latta’s proudest achievement was the strong relationships he had with other people and his “ability to show and receive love”.
“And he was proud of our loving relationship,” she says. “I’m proud of that too.”
FINALISTS:
New Zealand director Lee Tamahori died aged 75. Photo / Kirsty Griffin
Lee Tamahori
Unapologetically himself, committed to his craft and a champion for putting Māori stories in the spotlight, the late, great Lee Tamahori left an indelible mark on cinema at home and abroad.
Until the end of his battle with Parkinson’s disease this year, the 75-year-old was remembered for being “fiercely intelligent, humorous, caring and loving”, while also being praised for his quiet strength and determination in life and in film.
Once Were Warriors, Mahana and his final film, The Convert, speak to his passion for indigenous storytelling, no matter how deep the cuts and how raw the subject matter. Blockbusters such as Bond film Die Another Day and Along Came a Spider proved that even in the saturation of the early 2000s film scene, Kiwi creatives were a force to be reckoned with. His whānau were right in saying he helped create a pathway for so many other storytellers – Māori, non-Māori, or other indigenous stories worldwide.
“He knew how to break down a script,” actor Temuera Morrison said of his long-time collaborator. “He knew every facet of the film-making industry and was a very classy, very knowledgeable director.”
While a mighty tōtara of Kiwi screen has fallen, his legacy lives on through the kaupapa he instilled through his vision, grace and determination to tell stories that spoke to all of us.
Fiona Samuel wrote Pike River, the Robert Sarkies-directed film starring Melanie Lynskey and Robyn Malcolm as Anna Osborne and Sonya Rockhouse, respectively. Photo / Amanda Billing
Fiona Samuel
It’s a given Fiona Samuel would consider the women she writes about as the real heroes.
Witness her comments about her work on the script for the recently released feature film Pike River.
“I have told stories before of real people. Usually the reason you’re telling their story is because they did an extraordinary thing and they didn’t know they were going to do it, and they didn’t think they were capable of it, but they found it inside themselves to do it… that is very everyday heroism and that inspires me.”
Samuel’s television, theatre and film scripts remind us there are real people behind the big, difficult headlines.
This year, that was her sad, funny and highly relatable portraits of Sonya Rockhouse and Anna Osborne – the two women who have never stopped fighting for the men who died in the Pike River mine – in the Robert Sarkies-directed movie about the disaster. Next year, it will be the life of former Prime Minister Helen Clark (“she didn’t just break the glass ceiling; she ice-axed it”) for an Auckland Theatre Company production.
Samuel, who was named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2019 for services to television and theatre, and is the 2025 Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellow, received her first major writing award in 1984 for the radio drama Blond Bombshell. More recent projects include Consent (the story of sexual violence survivor advocate Louise Nicholas) and Bliss, about Mansfield’s early life.
Catherine Cooke, 53, is paying $85,000 for unfunded treatment for grade 4 triple negative breast cancer. Photo / Catherine Cooke
Catherine Cooke
Auckland business adviser and mum of two Catherine Cooke was diagnosed with early-stage triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) in November 2024. It’s a rare and aggressive form of the disease that doesn’t respond to hormonal therapies.
The recommended treatment is immunotherapy drug Keytruda, given alongside chemotherapy – but as Cooke discovered, Keytruda is not funded for early TNBC in New Zealand.
She’s had to pay the cost of Keytruda herself, with the help of generous friends and strangers who donated to a Givealittle page.
While undergoing treatment, Cooke has spent the past year advocating for that treatment to be funded for others, taking a petition signed by 17,096 people to Parliament.
“We are Kiwis that are just trying to live, and yet we’re denied a fighting chance,” Cooke told the Herald in June this year.
“People don’t want the burden of debt, and not everyone’s going to be lucky enough to be able to fund it. If you funded [this treatment] for early triple negative breast cancer, you would have fewer people getting to the advanced stages.”
Cooke presented an in-person submission to the parliamentary petitions select committee last month. Keytruda for early TNBC is now on Pharmac’s options for investment list awaiting funding.
“Investing in medicines for early-stage breast cancer is more than just treating breast cancer, it’s preventing it from becoming incurable,” says Cooke.
“This will give more New Zealanders the chance to survive and live well after breast cancer.”
Aucklander Ben Prince-Saxon, 24, is running 12 marathons in 2025 to raise funds for Cystic Fibrosis New Zealand. Photo / Supplied
Ben Prince-Saxon
Aucklander Ben Prince-Saxon was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when he was 4 years old. Now 25, he’s nearing the end of a huge challenge: running 12 marathons, one per month in 2025, to raise funds for Cystic Fibrosis New Zealand.
For Prince-Saxon, everything changed when he started taking Trikafta in 2023.
He told the Herald earlier this year, “It’s been easier to gain weight, I’m coughing a lot less … I just have a lot more energy to run, to do everything in life that a ‘normal person’ would be able to do.”
Since then, he’s been using his newfound energy to give back to the charity that has supported him and his friends since his diagnosis.
He’s run 11 out of 12 marathons this year, with the last one set for December 14 at the Auckland Domain.
“It feels very surreal, especially knowing that only three years ago this would not have been possible,” he says.
At the time of writing, Prince-Saxon has raised $17,500 of his $25,000 goal through a Givealittle page.
“These funds help Kiwis across New Zealand to make living with CF that little bit easier, from helping to cover parking costs when children are admitted to hospital, to encouraging exercise to be healthier through their Breath4CF grant, and being there for those that require the help when the going really gets tough.”
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