Press Release:

Rising Maori singer Maisey Rika has won four of the eight titles on offer this year's Waiata Maori Awards which were held at the Hawke's Bay Opera House in Hastings on Friday night. She was announced as the winner of Best Maori Female Solo Artist, an award she took home from the 2009 Maori Music Awards.

This year she added the Best Maori Pop Album, for her work on Tohu; Best Maori Song, for her waiata, Nia, and Best Maori Songwriter, to her impressive music career resume. There were 10 finalists and Rika was among the eight winners announced at the awards ceremony held inside the historic opera house theatre.

It included the late Kohine Ponika for Best Maori Traditional Album; Young Sid for Best Maori Urabn Rap Hip-Hop RnB Album and Best Maori Male Solo Artist.

Australian Idol (2009) winner Stan Walker won Radio Airplay Record Of The Year by a Maori Artist. Northland reggae band 1814 won Radio Airplay Record Of The Year by a Maori Artist in Te Reo Maori.

Whanau and representatives accepted the awards on behalf of Walker, 1814 and Young Sid as they were unable to attend the event.
Whanau of the late Kohine Ponika arrived in Hawke's Bay to accept the Best Maori Traditional Album.
Rika travelled from Australia to Hawke's Bay on Friday afternoon to attend the awards, which were compared by Maori Television presenter Te Hamua Nikora and Hawke's Bay opera singer and music teach William Winitana.

Rika is from Whakatane but attended secondary school at St Josephs Maori Girls' College in Napier. The school has also produced singers Hinewehi Mohi and Moana Maniapoto.The awards ceremony brings to a close the two-day Maori Music Expo and the Te Koanga Fashion Show which were also held at the opera house as supporting events on Thursday and Friday. On Sunday, the Hip-Hop Dance Competition was the final event to officially finish the Waiata Maori Awards experience for 2010.

World champion hip-hop dance group ReQuest, from Auckland, will perform at the competition and help Auckland dancer Justin Haiu on the judging panel. The action starts about 4pm at the Hawke's Bay Opera House Plaza.

The 2010 Category Award Winners:
Best Maori Female Solo Artist: Maisey Rika.
Best Maori Pop Album: Maisey Rika, for her album, Tohu.
Best Maori Song, Maisey Rika, for her waiata, Nia.
Best Maori songwriter: Maisey Rika.
Best Maori Traditional Album: Kohine Ponika.
Best Maori Urban Rap Hip-Hop RnB Album: Young Sid.
Best Maori Male Solo Artist: Young Sid.
Radio Airplay Record Of The Year by a Maori Artist: Stan Walker.
Radio Airplay Record Of The Year by a Maori Artist in Te Reo Maori: 1814.

ICONIC AWARDS
The Waiata Maori Awards includes a nominated section to recognise those who have contributed to the industry over the years.
Keeper of Traditions Award: Tepene and Hine Mamaku, Te Teko, Bay of Plenty, for their work over six decades in tutoring kappa haka groups from the 1950s through to the 1970s.
Maori Industry Awards: Nuki Waaka, from Whakatane but now lives in Australia. Nuki with his wife, Marge, and brother Gugi formed the Maori Volcanics showband in 1964, which still tours today in Australia and New Zealand, with various performers. He has toured all over the world and still continues to thrill audiences with the rock and roll/showband style music.
Iconic Maori Music Composers Award (historical): The late Tuni Ngawai, Tokomaru Bay. From 1931, she wrote more than 200 songs which are still remembered today for their spiritual inspiration. She formed a group Te Hokowhitu a tu which worked with Maori MP Sir Apirana Ngata to find recruits for the 28th Maori Battalion.
Lifetime Contribution to Maori Music Award: Tom and Vicky Ward, Wellington. They are among Aotearoa's most accomplished leaders of Maori performing arts, Vicky in the poi and Tom in haka, particularly Ngati Porou haka. They have been involved in kapa haka for more than 53 years.