Western Leader

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The Western Leader has been the number one read out west since its launch in 1963.

It started as an amalgamation of two smaller community mastheads bought by Suburban Newspapers - the company formed by the late Denis Chicken and originally based at Stoddard Rd, Mt Roskill.

The name Western Leader was dreamed up by Donald Watson of Titirangi who won three guineas for his suggestion when the public was invited to submit ideas.

The paper went bi-weekly in 1968 after a buy out of the Waitakere Gazette - an early advocate of the same grassroots community reporting the Western Leader is renowned for today. It was based in the same Henderson building since its shift from Mt Roskill in 1975 but recently moved to 2 Waipareira Ave, Henderson.

It has won numerous Qantas Media awards over the years including best front page in 2004 and was a winner in the 2008 Excellence in Reporting Diversity Awards sponsored by the Human Rights Commission and the New Zealand Journalism Training Organisation.

Its reporters and photographers have also featured prominently in various awards over the decades and many have gone on to take up senior media roles both here and overseas.

The paper is a past and present sponsor of community initiatives including the annual Glen Eden U14 Fun Run, the Waitakere Business Awards, the All American Soapbox Derby, the Waitakere City Secondary Schools Gateway Programme, the Don Oliver Foundation Awards and the Sport Waitakere Awards.

It circulates to over 78,000 homes throughout the west two times a week and is a longtime major supporter of the Ports of Auckland Round the Bays event organised by its parent company, Fairfax Media.