Donna Chisholm

Donna Chisholm in 2003

Donna Elise Chisholm (born 9 June 1957) is a New Zealand investigative journalist and author.[1]

Career

Chisholm was the first female chief reporter at the Auckland Star newspaper.[2] Former New Zealand Listener editor Jenny Wheeler has called her the most "outstanding health reporter New Zealand's ever seen."[3] She is best known for her campaign in the Sunday Star-Times to free David Dougherty from prison for a rape he did not commit.[3][4][5] Dougherty was subsequently exonerated and awarded $868,728 in compensation.[4][6][7] Chisholm's six-year investigation was dramatised in the 2009 Television New Zealand film Until Proven Innocent,[8] and recounted in the 2017 book A Moral Truth: 150 years of investigative journalism in New Zealand by James Hollings.[9]

Chisholm is the author of the book From the Heart, a biography of the New Zealand heart surgeon Brian Barratt-Boyes.[10]

She lives in Auckland, and was formerly the editor-at-large for monthly current affairs magazine North & South, and senior writer for the weekly New Zealand Listener.[1]

Awards

• 2000: New Zealand Qantas Media Awards Newspaper Feature Writer of the Year[11]
• 2004: New Zealand Qantas Media Awards Newspaper Feature Writer of the Year[12]
• 2011: Canon Media Awards Magazine Feature Writer of the Year: the Helen Paske Trophy[13]
• 2016: Canon Media Awards Science and Technology Feature Writing award[14]
• 2017: Outstanding achievement award at the 2017 Voyager Media Awards[1]
• 2018: Voyager Media Awards Science and Technology Award, joint winner[15]

References

1. "2017 Winners". Voyager Media Awards. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
2. "Behind the Story". North & South. December 2018.
3. Shepheard, Nicola (January 2003). "Dauntless Donna". North & South magazine. pp. 68–75.
4. "Falsely imprisoned: David Dougherty's story". Sunday Star Times. 30 May 2009.
5. "Forensic Science". www.scoop.co.nz. 17 August 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
6. Koubaridis, Andrew (26 May 2011). "Arrest interrupts sentencing". ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
7. Leask, Anna; Hurley, Sam (28 April 2017). "David Dougherty, who was wrongly convicted of rape and abduction, dies of cancer at age 50". ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
8. "Crime Watch: DVD Review: Until Proven Innocent (the David Dougherty Story)". Crime Watch. 30 August 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
9. Hollings, James H. (2017). A moral truth: 150 years of investigative journalism in New Zealand. Auckland, New Zealand. ISBN 9780994141583. OCLC 993043075.
10. Chisholm, Donna (1987). From the heart: a biography of Sir Brian Barratt-Boyes. Auckland [N.Z.]: Reed Methuen. ISBN 0474002128. OCLC 21077473.
11. "Qantas Media Awards – Print Results". www.scoop.co.nz. 25 May 2001. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
12. "Qantas Media Awards 2004 – Print Results". www.scoop.co.nz. 16 May 2005. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
13. "North & South wins". North & South. July 2011.
14. "2016 Winners". Voyager Media Awards. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
15. "2018 winners". Voyager Media Awards. Archived from the original on 16 January 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2019.