The debut podcast produced by Newsroom Investigates has been selected as a finalist in two categories of a prestigious international award
Newsroom Investigates podcast, Peter Ellis, the Creche Case & Me, has been shortlisted for two categories in the 2023 New York Festivals Radio Awards.
Peter Ellis, the Creche Case & Me is an eight-part podcast presented by award-winning journalist and Newsroom’s investigations editor Melanie Reid, who was a reporter in Christchurch in the early 1990s when childcare worker Peter Ellis was arrested and charged with abusing children in his care.
Using never before heard interviews taken from tapes Reid rescued out of a dumpster, Peter Ellis, the Creche Case & Me tells the infamous Peter Ellis story as it unfolds, bringing you right into a time of prejudice, hysteria and delusion, when a kind of madness gripped Christchurch, resulting in a miscarriage of justice that would take 30 years to put right.
The gripping true crime series about a crime that never happened took out the number one ranking on Apple in New Zealand for weeks after its launch in December last year. The Peter Ellis, the Creche Case & Me podcast was produced by Melanie Reid, Lewis Tennant and Bonnie Sumner alongside editor Paul Enticott.
“We’re delighted so many New Zealanders have listened to the podcast and watched the video series of Peter’s story in its entirety. For this miscarriage of justice to also be recognised in such a prestigious international festival is humbling for all of us,” said Reid.
Peter Ellis, the Creche Case & Me has made the shortlist in the narrative/documentary and social justice podcast categories of the 2023 New York Festivals Radio Awards, alongside entries from around the world including the BBC, Washington Post and Al Jazeera.
Stuff also features as a finalist in the narrative/documentary category.
Winners will be announced at the Storytellers Gala virtual ceremony on April 18.
According to New York Festivals, which runs the event, the awards “celebrate the exceptional and innovative content being created today … to provide a truly complete representation of the very best in creative communications”.
Entries are judged by an international panel of award-winning creative professionals acknowledged as leaders in their fields.
All eight episodes of Peter Ellis, the Creche Case & Me are available to listen on your favourite podcast app, including Apple and Spotify, or you can watch the video series on Newsroom.
*Peter Ellis, the Creche Case & Me was made with the help of NZ on Air*
