​Mereana Tautu, CEO of Youth T.E.A.M. Trust, was awarded the "Every Child Counts" Award for an individual working to improve the status and wellbeing of New Zealand children.

In her acceptance speech at Parliament Buildings, Mereana said "it's been an amazing thing to be recognised for doing work that I really love. The most important thing is that the organisations represented here today - Youth T.E.A.M. Trust, Plunket, Barnardos - are heard at the political level with regard to the welfare of our children."

In the 12 years since ​Youth T.E.A.M. Trust was founded, over 3500 young people have been through our programmes. We thank and acknowledge them and their whanau for their courage and generosity, and the privilege we have of developing them as future leaders.