Massive Magazine sweeps up 19 awards at the Aotearoa Student Press Awards

Congratulations to our Massive Magazine team, who took home an impressive 10 first place, 7 second place and 2 third place awards at the ASPAs in Dunedin last weekend! 

The annual awards night, held by the Aotearoa Student Press Association, is an opportunity to celebrate student newspapers and magazines across the country, for their contributions towards student voice and journalism.  

The awards are judged by a variety of Aotearoa media experts, who sung plenty of praise for Massive’s content. “The strength was clearly the news section, which showed an apt focus on student issues told with student voice,” says Newsroom’s Fox Meyer. “It backed away from nothing.”  

Massive’s visual design was also highly lauded by the judges. “Massive’s design is in a league of its own,” says Matthew Galloway. “The covers are striking yet varied, the design sensibility is consistent, and yet, no two pages feel the same.” 

Massive Magazine’s awards haul includes first place for Best Investigation, Best Māori Coverage, Best Design, & Best Cover, as well as Second Place for Best Publication and Best News Coverage – just to name a few! 

“It was really special and rewarding to see the magazine win so much this past weekend” says Massive’s Editor, Sammy Carter. “These awards are really a reflection of student’s mahi and they should feel proud. It's amazing to see a publication that's just 13 years old compete with ones that have been around for decades and have bigger budgets”. 

Carter says she is particularly proud of the Magazine winning Best Māori Coverage for the third year in a row, and for taking home the awards for Best Social Media Presence and Best Multimedia Journalism, following efforts to focus on these areas to reach more Distance students. “Plus, winning a category with Paddy Gower judging made me fangirl.” 

Six members of Massive’s team flew down to Dunedin to attend the awards night, representing a larger group of over 150 students, writers and creatives who contributed to the magazine this year. “Some wrote a feature, modelled for a cover, or guest edited an entire edition. To every one of these students, tēnā rawa atu koutou, e hoa mā” says Sammy. 

Below is the full list of awards that Massive received: 

First Place   

• Best Design – Luka Maresca   

• Best Multimedia Journalism   

• Best Social Media Presence   

• Best Investigation – Sammy Carter   

• Best Individual Artist – Olive Bartlett-Mowat   

• Best Photographer – Georgia Andersen   

• Best Māori Coverage   

• Best Personal Essay – Lee Judi   

• Best Cover   

• Best Sports Coverage   

Second Place   

• Best Publication   

• Best News Coverage   

• Best Feature Writer – Jessie Davidson  

• Best Feature   

• Best Culture Writer – Maisie Arnold-Barron   

• Best Illustration   

• Best Centrefold   

Third Place   

• Best News Reporter – Claire Taylor   

• Best Science Journalism

A few of the Massive Magazine team members at the Aotearoa Student Press Awards 2025.