Award-winning UC alum and journalist Maddy Croad shares her journey from first discovering storytelling at school to reporting on complex social issues. Now, as she prepares for a move to the Middle East, she reflects on the stories that have shaped her career, and the ones she hopes to tell next.
Could you tell us about how you came to journalism?
I am one of those very lucky people who has always known what I want to do with my life. It all started off with taking a media studies class in year 11 at my local high school in Blenheim. We were learning about the Arab Spring and all of the turmoil overseas and I just fell in love with storytelling!
I actually started off wanting to be a sports journalist and did a whole year of a sports coaching degree before I realised there was a journalism course. Since then, I have done quite a big u-turn to social issues and conflict reporting, which is quite different!
Journalism is probably one of the only jobs where somebody will tell you some of the worst things that have happened in their lives, or the struggles they are facing, and let you ask questions about it and put it into words. And I think that is a hugely privileged position to be in!
Is there a story you’ve produced this year that you’ve been particularly proud of?
Funnily enough, it was the last body of work I completed at The Press. I spent several months working on a three-part series on family violence and how it impacts women in NZ.
Having so many women open up and share their experiences with family violence with me (a complete stranger) was absolutely incredible. Being able to put their years of abuse into words was very daunting, but to be trusted with that was amazing!
Speaking of being proud, you were named Junior Feature Writer of the Year at 2025’s Voyager Media Awards! Congratulations! What was that experience like?
It sounds very cliché, but so surreal.
To be nominated for a couple of awards and take one home was something I genuinely didn’t expect, so that was a pretty amazing way to start 2025! Also, being surrounded by so many TV and print journalism legends was very cool, especially as a fresh journo.
What does a day in the life of a journalist look like?
Very different! Most days I’ll start off by trekking through local, national and international news to see what’s happened overnight. More often than not I’ll also have a story to work on that day so I’ll have interviews lined up and will send any requests or questions though I need to.
Interviews or just meeting people will bring me out of the office as well, sometimes with one of our photographers (which is awesome as they always made my stories look fabulous).
Ultimately, some days I’ll have deadlines and work will have to be dropped if news comes out, or I’ll have to quickly head out somewhere. News is very unpredictable, so planning only goes so far! But a lot of journalism just involves talking to people, whether that is catch-ups, chatting with people in public or having a casual natter - that's how stories come about!
You finished up at Stuff at the end of 2025 – what is your next adventure shaping up to be?
I finished up just before Christmas, after two years at The Press, which was also very surreal!
I am moving to Amman, Jordan at the start of January to study Arabic and work as a freelance journalist in the very exciting area. It has always been a long-held dream to be a foreign correspondent in the Middle East and North Africa regions, so I am off to chase that dream!
The end goal is to work as a correspondent and conflict reporter in these areas, and tell the huge number of stories that are often flying under the radar. It’s a very daunting prospect, but I am very excited to get stuck in.
