September 12, 2014
Maori the Pride of New Zealand
The winner of a Pride of New Zealand lifetime achievement award says it's a win for kapa haka and matauranga Maori.
Tihi Puanaki from Ngati Hine was honoured for the work she has done teaching kapa haka in Christchurch for more than 40 years.
She says she's always set high standards, and that flows into the everything else in the lives of the people she works with.
The awards, presented by a trust in association with TSB Bank and media company APN, is a chance for wider recognition of a uniquely Maori art.
"Our whanau, non-Maori whanau could get some sort of idea of how imporetnat these things are to us and our to survival of our tikanga, our reo and all those sorts of things," she says.
Other winners in the Pride of New Zealand Awards included Murupara firefighter Maera Maki-Anderson in the emergency services section, Tokoroa anti-P campaigner and soup kitchen founder Julie King for community spirit, and Mahia kuia Kathleen Mato for her work on the environment.
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