Aroha Awarau is an acclaimed storyteller who has enjoyed success in three different writing disciplines – film scriptwriting, playwriting, and journalism. His first short film, Home, which received funding from NZ Film Commission in 2013, was nominated for Best Short Film at the 2014 NZ Scriptwriting Awards and made its international debut at the ImagineNATIVE Film Festival in Toronto. It has since screen at festivals in Berlin, Moscow and New Zealand.

Aroha’s short film scripts Puti and Clenched both won Best Short Film at the Pikihuia Māori Writer’s Award in 2017 and 2018. His first feature film script, Whāea Ros, received funding from the NZ Film Commission for its development in its He Ara scheme. Aroha has a degree majoring in film studies from the University of Waikato.

His play, Luncheon won Best Play at the 2015 NZ Scriptwriting Awards and had the NZ Herald describing Aroha’s work as “the emergence of a distinctive talent “. His second play, Officer 27, was a finalist at the 2015 Adam’s Playwriting Awards and the NZ Scriptwriting Awards. His third play, Provocation, was also nominated for the NZ Adams Playwriting Awards in 2019.

Aroha worked for the NZ Woman’s Weekly and is a former News Editor at the Woman’s Day magazine. He won Magazine Journalist of the Year in 2008 and 2013, at the NZ Magazine Publishers Awards and was a finalist in 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2016.

In 2017, he was a finalist at the Canon NZ Journalism awards in the sport’s feature writer category and a finalist in the Māori Reporter category in 2019. He’s a former producer/reporter for the current affairs show Native Affairs on Māori Television and a senior entertainment reporter for stuff.co.nz.