TV3’s Du Plessis-Allan to speak at Wintec press club

Controversial broadcaster Heather du Plessis-Allan is guest speaker at the next Wintec Press Club free lunch extravaganza – which also features the presentation of the most sought-after prizes in New Zealand journalism, and news of a new book which is set to take the country by storm.

“She’s not actually controversial,” said Steve Braunias, Press Club president. “I made that up as a tabloid hook – it’s the sort of thing they do all the time at Story, the TV3 current affairs show which Heather co-hosts so charmingly alongside Duncan Garner.

“But the show’s tabloid nature is balanced with first-class reporting, which you would expect from a show fronted by these two excellent journalists. Heather’s work on the Saudi sheep scandal this year was one of the best scoops of 2015.

“Heather is a dogged and determined reporter – and her decision to leave TVNZ for TV3’s news roster has restored some credibility to the network after its idiotic decision to lose John Campbell.

“Her co-host, Duncan Garner, spoke at Press Club last year. I’m sure Heather will be much better.”

Du Plessis-Allan will speak for about 30 minutes at the luncheon, followed by a Q + A session.

The Wintec Press Club is staged on behalf of journalism students at the Wintec School of Media Arts. The invite-only audience of about 100 regularly includes the biggest names in New Zealand journalism as well as TV show ponies.

The October 30 event will also feature the annual Wintec Press Club prizes. They include a cash prize of $500 to the winner of the Best Sentence of the Year Award. The prize goes to the journalism student who has written the most alarming sentence during 2015.

Last year’s winner was Don Rowe, who has gone on to write alarming sentences as a staff writer at the Spinoff.

Other prizes include the Wintec Press Club Best Friend of the Year which is awarded to the person outside of Wintec who has provided the most outstanding support for journalism students, and the much coveted Wintec Press Club Writer of the Year Award, open to all journalists in New Zealand.

The previous winners of the writing award are Joshua Drummond (2013) and Aimie Cronin (2014). “This year’s winner,” said Braunias, “will be considerably younger.”

Braunias will tell the live gathering about his new book, Scene of the Crime: 12 Extraordinary True Stories of Crime and Punishment, published by Harper Collins.

“It’s very good, I assure you,” he said. “The Wintec Press Club stands for good reporting and good writing, and I hope that my book meets the standard.”

The 12-2pm lunch is invite only, and will be held at the Ferrybank restaurant and convention centre in Grantham St, on the banks of the Waikato River in downtown Hamilton.