Auckland Metro Drug Squad head Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Cahill says police are very concerned with the alarming increase in the number of Chinese students being used by organised crime groups to assist in the importation of the drug, which contains the main ingredient used in the manufacture of the Class A drug methamphetamine commonly known as "P".

Waitemata Police District Asian Liaison Officer Raymond Wong says he is finding it far more effective to get the police warning across to Chinese students through the local Chinese media.

"The most effective way to get the message across to the Chinese community is through Chinese media and Chinese script," said Mr Wong. "We are happy that the Chinese newspapers, television and radio stations are co-operating and helping in the fight."

Mr Wong said many students failed to realise the seriousness of the offence, which carries a penalty of eight years imprisonment, because the drug is just a cold and flu remedy in China. He said the Chinese media were helping to help these students understand that if they became involved, they could face very serious charges and possible deportation, depending on their residency visa.

Mr Stevanon has won first place in the 2009 New Zealand Excellence in Reporting Diversity Awards for young journalists, with judges saying they were "blown away" by his portfolio, especially a story about Samoa changing traffic from right to left.

In the Tagata Pasifika story he told Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi that he would take a day to adjust to driving on the other side of the road. The Prime Minister responded with a smile that he was obviously a "slow learner" who he "would not employ". Mr Stevanon says he's "stoked" to win the diversity award.

Whitireia Journalism School head Jim tucker (a judge) said Mr Stevanon displayed impressive journalism skills, as stories about the Pacific can hold cultural traps for any journalist.

The awards were created last year following a visit to New Zealand by Arlene Morgan, an associate dean at New York's Columbia Journalism School in 2006. She ran a similar awards programme in America for 10 years and encouraged Mr Tucker to develop the awards here to recognise high quality work by journalists covering diversity.

One of the judges, NZ Journalists Training Organisation executive director Mike Fletcher, says the media is coming to grips with diversity.

Another judge, Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres, says coverage of diversity is increasing across the board and community papers are devoting more space to diversity issues. "The increase is not just in the big media outlets, but places like the deep south are also taking diversity seriously."

Human Rights Commission communications manager Gilbert Wong, who also helped judge the awards, says not only is there more diversity reporting "but there is more diversity amongst reporters".

However, Mr Tucker says there is still a long way to go: "The entries this year were a bit disappointing because of the standard of writing and the lack of in-depth reporting. Though, that did not apply to our prize winners, whose work was impressive." He says some entrants who submitted single story entries may not have understood the aim of the awards. It suggested covering diversity was not something they did very often. He was much more impressed by those who entered dozens of stories, showing day-to-day commitment to diversity reporting.

Rebecca Todd from the Christchurch Press won second prize with a series on Islam that Mr Tucker says was well written and insightful.

Michelle McCullough, Dunedin Star, placed third equal with Ruth Grundy, Southern Rural Life and Courier Country. Ms McCullough's stories confronted the issue of same-sex partners going to the school ball, a series that led to two schools switching their policies.

Mrs Grundy says doing her series on migrant workers in Southland's agricultural industry was humbling: "Especially when I think of the achievements of those who made the decision to leave their home countries and start a whole new life here - I doubt I would show the same courage if the situation were reversed."

The awards were judged by Mike Fletcher (NZ Journalists Training Organisation), Caroline McGrath (Office of Ethnic Affairs), Joris de Bres (Race Relations Commissioner), Gilbert Wong (Human Rights Commission), Whitireia Journalism School senior journalism tutor Queenie Rikihana, and Jim Tucker.

Prize winners:

• First: Adrian Stevanon, TV1 and Tagata Pasifika
• Second: Rebecca Todd, the Press, Christchurch
• Third Equal: Michelle McCullough, Dunedin Star; and Ruth Grundy, Southern Rural Life and Courier Country
• Highly commended: Tasha Black, NewsWire; and Carolyn Thomas, Western Leader.

See more on Newswire.

What are the ERDA awards?

The NZ Excellence in Reporting Diversity Awards were launched by Whitireia Journalism School in 2008 to recognise top work being done by journalists with less than five years' experience. They reward outstanding reporting of diversity in NZ society, whether it's focused on ethnic communities or minority groups, who traditionally have not been portrayed well by the media.

There are many interesting - and positive - stories to be done about minority communities, rather than highlight them only when they do something wrong, which has usually been the case in the past. As Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres now observes, there is a shift in media approach as New Zealand has become more demographically diverse. The media industry is recognising this shift by devoting more space/time and reporting resources to coverage.

The ERDA awards grew from a visit to NZ in 2006 by one of the world's leading authorities on diversity journalism, Arlene Morgan of New York's prestigious Columbia School of Journalism. Arlene ran a programme at Columbia called Let's Do It Better, which invited journalists from across the US to submit their work for scrutiny at Arlene's annual week-long workshops.

From that process, in 2006 Arlene and her colleagues produced a book and DVD called The Authentic Voice: The Best reporting on Race and Ethnicity, which is a collection of the top examples they saw. Arlene visted NZ twice and both times offered tough criticism of what the NZ media was doing (or not doing) about reporting diversity. Her Columbia programme ended in 2008, but Arlene's interest continues. She has watched the launch and growth of the NZ awards with pride, she says.

The network aims to promote and protect the basic human right to the freedom of expression and its defenders particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.

"Freedom of expression has always been a core part of Amnesty International's work and the media have long been at the forefront of the human rights struggle," said the group's activism support manager Margaret Taylor, who is also a journalist.

"Media workers are also human rights defenders in their own right because their actions depend on, and fuel, freedom of expression. For simply telling the truth, they are often targets of abuse."

The network will offer journalists direct access to Amnesty's independent research and experts around the world.

To join the media network, contact Pui-Yi Cheng.

Premiering on Sunday, December 6 at 11.30am, the series is driven by new kiwis - the many migrant and refugee groups who make up New Zealand today - revealing issues faced by these communities through the presentation of insightful personal stories.

"New Zealand's cultural landscape is changing, and the arrival of migrants from the furthest reaches of the globe and our United Nation commitment to resettle and provide for up to 750 refugees a year is creating a vibrant multicultural society," said producer Julia Parnell.

"Many thrive in their adopted country; others find life less satisfying, struggling through the language barrier to accomplish basic tasks such as buying food, finding a home and seeking medical help, or more challenging issues such as trauma support, negative stereotyping and difficulty in earning a sustainable income." She said the series would provide an "authentic voice" for these communities.

"We explore life then and now for our country's Islamic slaughter man, for the Russian family of artists counting down to their citizenship ceremony, for the tango dancing Turkish architect who's making her mark in Christchurch. Minority Voices is full of entertaining and informative stories as diverse as New Zealand is today," Ms Parnell added.