The Christchurch Foundation is pleased to announce the three winners for 2019, Azaria Howell, Cate Grace, and Lynette Diaz.

The Fund and awards were established on September 19, 2018 to celebrate Otautahi/Christchurch’s proud tradition of female leadership, to acknowledge and support our current leaders working at the grassroots within our communities, and to inspire future female leaders. 
 
Each of the recipients received a $2000.00 grant and were presented their award by Christchurch Mayor, and Fund Patron the Hon. Lianne Dalziel.  Over 50 guests attended an afternoon tea to celebrate yesterday.
 
“All three of these inspirational women are actively leading change in our community through storytelling.  They are working in distinctly different mediums but all are champions for our communities,” said Amy Carter, Chief Executive of The Christchurch Foundation. 

Entries were submitted by video and judged by a panel consisting of the Hon. Lianne Dalziel, professional director and futurist Sue Suckling, ChristchurchNZ CEO Joanna Norris, and Amy Carter from The Christchurch Foundation.

Over 20 entries were received from across greater Christchurch and covered a broad range of projects.

A series of short videos is now being developed which will share the winner’s personal stories. These will be released on social media and on The Christchurch Foundation’s website.

Information about the winners:

Azaria Howell: Azaria is a year 13 student at Cashmere High School. She is the hapori/community editor for Tearaway Magazine. Her voluntary work at the magazine focuses on enhancing the voices of New Zealand youth.  Azaria is particularly passionate about addressing issues that can be hard for youth to openly discuss.  Recent stories include 'My Journey with Endometriosis,' an article which focused on her personal experience with the condition which impacts 1 in 10 women. She also writes a monthly series called 'Out and Proud' series focusing on empowering women and LGBTQ+ people to stay positive.  With the grant, she will be able to further her writing and passion for journalism.

Cate Grace: Cate gathers and shares stories that encourage more accessibility and participation for others to fully participate in their world.  She has been a volunteer storyteller and team-coordinator of Humans of Christchurch for two years.  Humans of Christchurch is a collaborate initiative which shares the stories of our people. This grant will help with an upcoming exhibition in Turanga and will mean that Cate can interview more wahaine toa in Christchurch.  Cate says, “In a world of fake news, photoshopped portraits and glamourized Instagram accounts, these honest stories and images can be heart-warming, humorous or confronting. Many of the stories are relatable in one way or another, and all of them are an integral part of retaining a piece of Otautahi’s heritage.

Lynette Diaz: Lynette is a singer / songwriter who founded the New Zealand Women’s Acoustic Collective and is the creator of the Femacoustica Radio Show. Both initiatives were formed to connect, support and foster a community of women empowerment, through music. These funds will support her in the development of her legacy podcast series which is focused on 5 older women musicians who’ve spent their formative years creating music in Christchurch. The podcast series aims to record the stories of these women before they’re lost.