Miriama Jennet Kamo (born 19 October 1973 in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

) is a New Zealand

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

, children's author and

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for ...

. She currently presents

TVNZ , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the So ...

's flagship current affairs programme ''Sunday'', and

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

current affairs programme ''Marae''.

Early life

Miriama was born in

in 1973. She attended New Brighton Catholic Primary School and

Aranui High School Aranui High School was a large secondary school for years 9–13, in Christchurch, New Zealand. Aranui high school took its name from the suburb of Aranui, meaning 'big pathway' in Māori. Aranui High School was a coeducational alternative to oth ...

. She graduated from the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1995.

Career

Kamo studied at CPIT and within her first year, landed her first television job, as a reporter and presenter on children's science programme ''Get Real''. She later moved to Wellington, where she worked as a reporter for the critically acclaimed arts and issues show ''backch@t''; after that programme ended, she briefly moved to Sydney, where she held various jobs, eventually becoming assistant manager of an art gallery. Kamo returned to New Zealand in 2001; in 2002, she joined

Television New Zealand , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the Solom ...

(TVNZ), becoming a reporter for current affairs programme, ''Sunday''. She has also worked as a fill-in presenter for ''

1 News ''1 News'' (stylised as ''1News'') is the news division of New Zealand television network TVNZ. The service is broadcast live from TVNZ Centre in Auckland. The flagship news bulletin is the nightly 6 pm news hour, but ''1 News'' also has ...

'' and ''Breakfast''. From 2005 to 2011, she hosted TVNZ's current affairs show ''20/20''; from 2008 to 2012, she was a weekend anchor for

TVNZ 7 TVNZ 7 was a commercial-free New Zealand 24-hour news and information channel on Freeview digital television platform and on Sky Television from 1 July 2009. It was produced by Television New Zealand, which received Government funding to launc ...

's ''News at 8''. In 2010, Kamo and fellow presenter

Rawdon Christie Rawdon Christie is a former English-New Zealand journalist turned media relations expert and real-estate sales person. Life Christie was born in London. He attended Marlborough College, and then the University of Edinburgh, where he received a ...

anchored the live coverage of the aftermath of the

2010 Canterbury earthquake The 2010 Canterbury earthquake (also known as the Darfield earthquake) struck the South Island of New Zealand with a moment magnitude of 7.1 at on , and had a maximum perceived intensity of X (''Extreme'') on the Mercalli intensity scale. Som ...

. From 2015 to 2016, Kamo hosted ''Kiwi Living'', a lifestyle programme on TVNZ. Since 2011, Kamo has been the host of TVNZ's current affairs shows ''Sunday'', Māori current affairs programme ''Marae'', and the online technology and innovation series ''Sunday Innovate''. Kamo writes for various publications, and her first children's book, ''The Stolen Stars of Matariki'', was published by Scholastic in early 2018.

Recognition

In 2005, Kamo won Best Current Affairs Reporter at the

Qantas Television Awards New Zealand film and television awards have gone by many different names and have been organised by different industry groups. As of 2017, New Zealand has relaunched a standalone New Zealand Television Awards after a five-year hiatus. The film awar ...

for her investigation into alleged abuses at Porirua Hospital in the 1960s and 70s. The judging panel noted that she "demonstrated excellent reporter/talent rapport with strong interest and emotional content." Reflecting in 2022, Kamo commented that the programme on Porirua Hospital, which she did early in her career, was one of the stories that left the "biggest impression on her... nd..was a watershed for her, not just as a journalist, but as a person." In 2019, ''Stolen Stars of Matariki'' was a finalist in

New Zealand Post Book Awards The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand. The awards began in 1996 as the merger of two literary awards events: the New Zealand Book Awards, which ran from 1976 to 1995, and the Goodman Fielder W ...

, Children & Young Adults: Te Kura Pounamu Award for books written completely in te reo Māori. Kamo won ''Best Reporter - Maori Affairs'' in the

2019 Voyager Media Awards The 2019 Voyager Media Awards (previously the Canon Media Awards) were held at the Cordis, Auckland on 17 May 2019. Awards were made in the categories of digital, feature writing, general, magazines, health journalism, scholarships, newspapers ...

for her work on two New Zealand television programmes, ''Marae'' and ''Sunday''.

Personal life

Kamo married consultant and

Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi ( mi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi) is a document of central importance to the history, to the political constitution of the state, and to the national mythos of New Zealand. It has played a major role in the treatment of the M ...

negotiator Michael Dreaver in 2015; they have one daughter, born in 2011. She is of

Ngāi Tahu Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim), Mount Mahanga and Kahurangi Poi ...

and

Ngāti Mutunga Ngāti Mutunga is a Māori iwi (tribe) of New Zealand, whose original tribal lands were in north Taranaki. They migrated from Taranaki, first to Wellington (with Ngāti Toa and other Taranaki Hāpu), and then to the Chatham Islands (along with ...

heritage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kamo, Miriama Living people Ngāi Tahu people Ngāti Mutunga people New Zealand television presenters New Zealand women television presenters People from Christchurch University of Canterbury alumni 1973 births New Zealand Māori broadcasters New Zealand Māori women People educated at Aranui High School New Zealand children's writers 21st-century New Zealand women writers New Zealand women children's writers

Early life

Career

Recognition

Personal life

See also

References