{"id":642189,"date":"2026-10-26T22:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T22:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/642189\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T22:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T22:24:12","slug":"tv-screen-personality-of-the-year-finalists-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/642189\/","title":{"rendered":"TV screen personality of the year finalists revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

The hunt for TV Screen Personality of the Year is underway, with a public vote set to determine this year\u2019s winner.<\/p>\n

Ten finalists for the coveted category were unveiled today as part of the New Zealand Screen Awards, with public voting now open.<\/p>\n

The nominees include TVNZ Breakfast<\/a> host Chris Chang; Shortland Street star Alex King; David Correos for Taskmaster\/Celebrity Treasure Island\/The Weed Eaters; Eat Well for Less co-host Ganesh Raj and Taskmaster\u2019s Jackie Van Beek.<\/p>\n

The award celebrates the screen personalities who have made a lasting impression on New Zealand audiences, with viewers invited to vote for their favourite. Last year\u2019s winner was TVNZ\u2019s Scotty Morrison<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Public voting<\/a> is open until November 13 and the NZ Screen Awards will be held on November 19 at Auckland\u2019s Viaduct Events Centre.<\/p>\n

\"Ganesh<\/p>\n

Ganesh Raj (right) is nominated for Eat Well for Less. (Source: TVNZ)<\/p>\n

The full list of finalists:<\/p>\n

Rebecca Gibney: Happiness \/ Millionaire Hot Seat – Three & Three Now<\/p>\n

Shaun Johnson: Ford League Lounge with Shaun Johnson – Sky Sport<\/p>\n

Ryan Bridge: Ryan Bridge Today – NZ Herald \/ Three & Three Now<\/p>\n

Chris Chang: Breakfast \/ FIFA World Cup 2026 – TVNZ 1 & TVNZ+<\/p>\n

Alex King: Shortland Street<\/a>– TVNZ 2 & TVNZ+<\/p>\n

Shiray & Gillies K\u0101k\u0101: Full Noise – Whakaata M\u0101ori & M\u0101ori+<\/p>\n

David Correos: Taskmaster<\/a> \/ Celebrity Treasure Island<\/a> – TVNZ 2 & TVNZ+ \/ The Weed Eaters<\/p>\n

Ganesh Raj: Eat Well For Less<\/a> – TVNZ 1 & TVNZ+<\/p>\n

Jackie Van Beek: Taskmaster – TVNZ 2 & TVNZ+ \/ Educators<\/a> – TVNZ+ \/ Mum, I\u2019m Alien Pregnant<\/p>\n

Turia Schmidt-Peke – Chat Her Up – Whakaata M\u0101ori & M\u0101ori+<\/p>\n

Special Legacy award for Hyundai Country Calendar<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s longest running TV show has also been named the 2026 Screen Legend Award, as part of this year\u2019s award programme.<\/p>\n

First broadcast on March 1966, the show began as a rural news and information programme that evolved into showcasing pioneering farmers and rural innovators working the land.<\/p>\n

Country Calendar<\/a>, which marked its 60th anniversary this year, is only the second TV show to receive the Screen Legend award after Shortland Street in 2019. It is also a finalist for Best Factual Series at this year’s awards.<\/p>\n

Hyundai Country Calendar producer Dan Henry said the show had become part of the way New Zealand saw itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor six decades, the programme has told the stories of New Zealand\u2019s rural communities – their resilience, ingenuity, humour, challenges and deep connection to the land,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile farming and rural life have changed enormously, the heart of those stories remains the same – people with a genuine passion for what they do and a willingness to share their lives with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The broadcaster has five nominations across the journalism categories<\/a>, with Q+A with Jack Tame a finalist for Best Current Affairs Programme.<\/p>\n

Tame is also nominated for Reporter of the Year for a portfolio including his exclusive interview with ex-Police Commissioner Andrew Coster in the wake of the Jevon McSkimming scandal.<\/p>\n

Tame is also nominated for Best Presenter: News and Current Affairs.<\/p>\n

TVNZ\u2019s coverage of the fatal shooting of fugitive father Tom Phillips in September last year and the deadly Mount Maunganui landslide in January are both finalists in the Best News Coverage category.<\/p>\n

The New Zealand Screen Awards celebrates the best in the country\u2019s film and TV industry, with finalists announced across 57 categories.<\/p>\n

The feature film Pike River leads the nominations with 15, while NZ-German co-production Bust Up tops the television categories with 12 nominations, followed by NZ-Scottish co-production The Ridge with nine.<\/p>\n

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including Dame Jacinda’s new job, and why an Australian prisoner’s lost a legal case over Vegemite. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The hunt for TV Screen Personality of the Year is underway, with a public vote set to determine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,417,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-642189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-television","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}