December 08, 2019
Vision and courage behind Maori Language Awards
A lifetime of teaching and demonstrating the best of te reo Maori has won Rahera and Te Waihoroi Shortland a joint Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s Ngā Tohu Reo Māori Awards.
Māori Language Commissioner Professor Rawinia Higgins says the couple’s Māori language revitalisation work will impact on generations of New Zealanders.
Rahera Shortland established the first Maori language total immersion unit in a secondary school at Auckland Girls' Grammar, and also chairs Te Ataarangi Educational Trust which has helped thousands of people learn te reo at community level.
Te Waihoroi Shortland’s long advocacy and practice of te reo Māori includes contributions not only on the marae but as a broadcaster, an actor and as the first chair of the Māori language revitalisation agency Te Mātāwai.
The supreme award went to Hinewehi Mohi’s ‘Waiata Anthems’ project, an album of singers of all backgrounds delivering their own songs in te reo Māori, which was released to mark 20 years since the musician transformed the national anthem by singing it in Māori before an All Black test match.
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