Kate Hawkesby is a New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 radio announcer and television presenter who currently works as a substitute breakfast news reader for Newstalk ZB

Newstalk ZB

Newstalk ZB is a nationwide New Zealand talk radio network operated by The Radio Network of New Zealand . It is available in almost every radio market in the country, and has news reporters based in many of them...

. While working as a reporter, presenter and news reader for TVNZ between 1995 and 2007 she became the youngest person to present a One News at 6 bulletin.

She has worked extensively as a reporter in the field; from reporting live from the Oscars in LA, to flying with the Army in an Airforce Hercules to Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

 to report on trouble in Bougainville as it edged towards civil war.

Kate Hawkesby began presenting on TV2 Headline News, then fronted the Breakfast and Midday news, job sharing

Job sharing

Job sharing is an employment arrangement where typically two people are retained on a part-time or reduced-time basis to perform a job normally fulfilled by one person working full-time. Compensation is apportioned between the workers, thus leading to a net reduction in per-employee income...

 with Simon Dallow

Simon Dallow

Simon Dallow is a New Zealand journalist, Barrister and a television personality.-Early Years:Dallow was educated at Liston College and St Peter's College. He completed his tertiary education at Auckland University, where he studied law...

.

In 2002, she became the co-anchor of TV One's Breakfast show with Mike Hosking

Mike Hosking

Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio journalist and presenter. He currently works as the weekly Breakfast host on radio station Newstalk ZB.He has lived and worked as a broadcaster in Wellington, Christchurch and currently, Auckland...

, highlights included co-hosting a week long "road show" of live programmes around the country, and covering the America's Cup races live, as well as interviewing a wide range of newsmakers and politicians.

In 2004, Hawkesby joined Eric Young

Eric Young (broadcaster)

Eric Young is a New Zealand journalist and television presenter. He has presented Prime News – First at 5:30 since March 2006.Young's broadcasting career began on radio in Auckland in the early 1980s...

 as host of the late news show Tonight, which she fronted on her own for two years after Young left. She left on maternity leave in late 2006 and has since announced she will not return.

She hosted an impromptu three hour live breaking news special as Chechen rebels seized a school in Beslan, Russia, and held hundreds of children hostage. As well as presenting Tonight, Hawkesby has interviewed a range of musicians from Brooke Fraser

Brooke Fraser

Brooke Gabrielle Fraser Ligertwood, better known as Brooke Fraser is a New Zealand award-winning folk-pop and Christian music artist...

 to Bryan Ferry

Bryan Ferry

Bryan Ferry, CBE is an English singer, musician, and songwriter. Ferry came to public prominence in the early 1970s as lead vocalist and principal songwriter with the band Roxy Music, who enjoyed a highly successful career with three number one albums and ten singles entering the top ten charts in...

 for the show. She got the only exclusive TV interview with Olympic boxer Soulan Pownceby

Soulan Pownceby

Soulan James Pownceby is a New Zealand boxer, rated by TVNZ in 2004 as one of New Zealand's most exciting talents since David Tua...

 who was convicted of manslaughter. Kate was also a regular fill-in on ONE News.

On top of her newsreading duties, Hawkesby has also hosted a raft of TV specials for TV One, including the Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

The Lord of the Rings is an epic film trilogy consisting of three fantasy adventure films based on the three-volume book of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King .The films were directed by Peter...

premiere in Wellington, the World of Wearable Art Awards, and the Young Musician of the Year Awards.

She also hosted the launch of Fashion Week in 2004. Offscreen Hawkesby works as an MC for many corporates and charities, supporting the Starship Foundation, Child Cancer, and the Breast Cancer Research Trust. She also took part in this year's Make Poverty History

Make Poverty History

Make Poverty History is the name of a campaign that exists in a number of countries, including Australia, Canada, Denmark , Finland, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Romania, the United Arab Emirates, Great Britain and Ireland...

 Campaign.

Hawkesby has been a finalist in the Qantas Television Awards

Qantas Television Awards

The Aotearoa Film & Television Awards, formerly known as the Qantas Television Awards, are presented by the New Zealand Television Broadcasters' Council...

 Best Presenter category six times, and was a finalist in the People's Choice Award for Best Female TV Personality 2005.

She also hosted TV ONEs How Normal Are You? in 2005.

Hawkesby has a Political Studies degree, and has worked overseas on London's Daily Express

Daily Express

The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...

newspaper before returning to New Zealand to get married. Her marriage to Richard Lyne ended in 2007 after twelve years, they have three children.