Finalists for New Zealander of the Year 2015

Media release

25 January 2015

Finalists for New Zealander of the Year 2015

The New Zealander of the Year 2015 Awards Office is pleased to announce the three people being considered for 2015’s Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year.

They are:

• Julie Chapman: CEO and founder, KidsCan (Auckland)
• Sir John Kirwan: Rugby coach, mental health and depression awareness advocate (Auckland)
• Sir Stephen Tindall: Founder, The Tindall Foundation (Auckland)

Comment from the Chief Judge, Cameron Bennett

These people represent aspiration, ambition, determination to succeed and drive to explore what’s possible.

It’s an extraordinarily difficult task to arrive at a single New Zealander of the Year. Each and every one of the nominees are remarkable individuals and contributors. They’re people who are making things happen that benefit us all and make us proud to be Kiwis.

Background

The annual New Zealander of the Year awards are in their sixth year. They recognise, encourage and reward New Zealand's most vital asset – its people. They are open to all New Zealanders and celebrate the contributions of New Zealanders from all walks of life. More than 230 nominations were received for the 2015 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year.

The 2015 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year will be announced at the New Zealander of the Year Gala Awards in Auckland on Wednesday 25 February.

Previous winners of the New Zealander of the Year Award are: Dr Lance O’Sullivan (2014), Dame Anne Salmond (2013), Sir Richard Taylor (2012), Sir Paul Callaghan (2011) and Sir Ray Avery (2010).

Other categories

The New Zealander of the Year Awards 2014 will also be honoring New Zealanders who have performed with distinction in five award categories. The finalists for those categories are:

University of Auckland Young New Zealander of the Year
Guy Ryan (Wellington), Malvindar Singh-Bains (Auckland), Matt Strawbridge (Wellington)

Metlifecare Senior New Zealander of the Year
Donald Sew Hoy (Auckland), Dr Brian Broom (Auckland), Betty Van Gaalen (Waikanae)

Mitre 10 Community of the Year
Focus Paihia! (Northland), VisionWest Community Trust (Auckland), Community Fruit Harvesting (Auckland)

Sanitarium Innovator of the Year
Peter Beck (Auckland), Professor Shaun Holt (Tauranga), BCS Group (Auckland)

Kiwibank Local Heroes Awards
Billie Jordan (Waiheke Island), Helen Davidson (Roxburgh), Trevor Clarke (Auckland)

More information on the 2015 New Zealander of the Awards and the finalists for each category is at www.nzawards.co.nz.

Kiwibank 2015 New Zealander of the Year: biographies

Julie Chapman

Julie Chapman is the CEO and Founder of KidsCan – a charitable trust dedicated to alleviating child poverty in New Zealand.

Believing that kids need practical support with the basics and a hand up, rather than a hand out, Julie commenced operations in 2005, distributing food, shoes and raincoats from her garage. That simple garage operation has grown into an organisation supporting the health and wellbeing of thousands of children in approximately 400 schools throughout New Zealand.

She also created New Zealand’s first child sponsorship programme with KidsCan “In Our Backyard Club”, where generous Kiwis could donate $15 a month to provide a child with the basics at school.

She has managed to elevate the issue of child poverty through creating awareness, debate, discussion and action to help alleviate the problem, which affects one in four Kiwi kids. Julie has become a key opinion leader in the issue of child poverty and works closely with government, child poverty experts, the Office of the Children’s Commissioner, schools and communities to identify the need and raise funds to expand KidsCan’s programmes – directly helping thousands of children throughout New Zealand.

Julie’s next challenge with KidsCan is to develop support for basic healthcare in schools. This includes providing basic hygiene products, such as hand-sanitiser, nit combs, toothbrushes, sticking plasters and tissues, to help manage the spread of communicable disease. She is also developing a prescription fund for illnesses such as impetigo, scabies and respiratory conditions, to ensure sick children get the treatment they need and prevent the condition becoming acute and requiring hospitalisation.

Sir John Kirwan

Depression spokesperson and former All Black Sir John Kirwan has been widely praised for his efforts in raising awareness of depression.

Sir John has been at the forefront of the campaign to heighten public awareness of depression, an illness he suffers from himself. As patron of The Key To Life Charitable Trust, he has also featured on The Nutters Club with Mike King and psychiatrist Dr David Codyre to talk about understanding and living with depression.

He has fronted advertising campaigns and written extensively about depression. He was made an Officer of The New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) in 2007 for his efforts in mental health. In 2012 he was made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit and later that year was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.

Sir John was a star winger who played 63 tests for New Zealand from 1984-94, scoring 35 test tries. He also scored a New Zealand record 199 first-class tries and played professional rugby league before embarking on a coaching career that has seen him lead the national teams of Italy and Japan. He is the current coach of the Blues Super rugby team.

Sir Stephen Tindall

Founder and current director of The Warehouse Group Ltd, Sir Stephen Tindall has also helped thousands of New Zealanders and left a lasting impression on communities.

Along with his wife Margaret, he is co-founder and trustee of The Tindall Foundation. Established to support community-based initiatives, enterprise and social services, the foundation also supports the environment, strengthens the community sector and promotes generosity. To date, the foundation has provided more than $100m to support a range of initiatives.

Sir Stephen was a founding member of the New Zealand Institute (known now as New Zealand Initiative), a think tank with 30 corporate members formed to contribute creative ideas and solutions to positively transform New Zealand. He has also invested more than $250m in seed and venture capital into a large number of start-up and early stage businesses, ranging from environmental technology to high-tech and software and other high export potential businesses.

He was co-founder and former chair of the NZ Business Council for Sustainable Development. He also established the Alan Buhay Education Foundation, which supports families in the Philippines through education, community development and micro-financed businesses. He remains a trustee of the foundation.

Sir Stephen was awarded the 2009 Knight Companion of the NZ Order of Merit, 2007 Distinguished Companion of the NZ Order of Merit; 2006 Sir Peter Blake Leadership Award and many other tributes recognising his vision and leadership.

ENDS

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