Madeleine Chapman

Madeleine Elsie Chapman (born 16 March 1994) is a New Zealand editor, journalist and author, and the current editor of ''The Spinoff'' and former editor of '' North & South''. Chapman co-wrote the autobiography of New Zealand professional basketball player, Steven Adams, and in 2020 a biography of the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern.

Chapman is a former athlete, competing as a member of the Samoa women's national cricket team and as a New Zealand domestic champion javelin thrower.

Biography

Early life

Chapman grew up in the Wellington Region. Her father was born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska, while her mother grew up on Upolu in Samoa. Chapman has Tuvaluan heritage through her maternal grandfather, and Chinese heritage through her great-grandfather. Chapman has nine siblings, and was an avid reader as a child.

Chapman received a scholarship to attend Samuel Marsden Collegiate School in Wellington, where she competed in basketball, athletics and cricket events. In 2011 she won the Norwood Award for Outstanding Girls Under 20 player of the year, and was also named the College Sport Wellington women's Cricket Player of the Year.

Sporting career

From 2010 to 2013, Chapman played cricket professionally for the Wellington Blaze. In 2012, Chapman joined the Samoa women's national cricket team, playing seven rounds in the 2012 Pepsi ICC East Asia Pacific Women's Trophy and topping the batting leader board for the competition. Chapman continued to compete for Samoa until 2014.

Representing Auckland-based North Harbour Bays Athletics, Chapman first competed in New Zealand athletics competitions as a javelin thrower in 2013. She attended the New Zealand Athletics Championships in 2013, winning two gold medals for the javelin throw. In 2014, Chapman quit athletics due to an injury.

Chapman returned to athletics competitions in late 2016 and 2017. At the Porritt Classic in 2017, Chapman was the champion women's javelin thrower (49.18 m). At the 2017 New Zealand national championships, Chapman won a gold medal with a career-best javelin throw of 50.98 metres, outcompeting national champion Tori Peeters at the competition. As of 2022, this ranks Chapman fourth in the list of record holders for New Zealand Women's javelin throw.

Media career

Chapman received a scholarship to attend the University of Auckland, where she studied education. While at university, Chapman wrote as a film critic for ''Craccum'', the Auckland University Students' Association magazine.

In 2016, Chapman became a staff writer for online magazine ''The Spinoff'', beginning as an intern. In the same year, Chapman was asked to ghostwrite New Zealand professional basketball player Steven Adams' autobiography, which was published in 2018. Chapman had known Adams since childhood, as both had played in Wellington regional high school basketball competitions.

While at ''The Spinoff'', Chapman appeared on Three infotainment television programme ''The Spinoff TV'' (2018), and has written and directed ''Scratched: Aotearoa's Lost Sporting Legends'' (2019 onwards), an NZ On Air-funded documentary webseries. In 2018, Chapman won the Young Business Journalist of the Year award at the New Zealand Shareholders' Association's 2018 Business Journalism Awards, and the best opinion writer (humour/satire) award at the 2019 Voyager Media Awards. Some of Chapman's best-known works include pieces on housing unaffordability, sleep inertia aiding lamps, and ranking lists of snack foods such as biscuits and lollies. Her 2018 article exposing false country of origin practices by Denise L'Estrange-Corbet's fashion label World won the award for best (single) news story / scoop at the 2019 Voyager Media Awards.

Chapman left ''The Spinoff'' as a writer in early 2020, taking a break from journalism. During the same year, Chapman released ''A New Kind of Leader'', a biography of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern she was commissioned to write in 2019. When print magazine '' North & South'' was relaunched in late 2020, Chapman became the publication's senior editor. In late 2021, Chapman became the co-editor of ''The Spinoff'', alongside long time ''Spinoff'' staff writer Alex Casey. She is due to step down as editor later in 2025.

Bibliography

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Achievements

Javelin throw

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, Madeleine
1994 births
21st-century New Zealand journalists
21st-century New Zealand non-fiction writers
21st-century New Zealand women writers
Athletes from Wellington City
Cricketers from Wellington City
Entertainment journalists
Ghostwriters
Living people
New Zealand bibliographers
New Zealand columnists
New Zealand women columnists
New Zealand editors
New Zealand magazine editors
New Zealand female javelin throwers
New Zealand people of American descent
New Zealand people of Chinese descent
New Zealand people of Samoan descent
New Zealand people of Tuvaluan descent
New Zealand sportswriters
New Zealand television directors
New Zealand television writers
New Zealand women cricketers
New Zealand women essayists
People educated at Samuel Marsden Collegiate School
Political journalists
Samoan female javelin throwers
Samoan women cricketers
Samoan women writers
University of Auckland alumni
Wellington Blaze cricketers
New Zealand women magazine editors
New Zealand women sportswriters
Women television directors
New Zealand women television writers
Writers from Wellington City
New Zealand Athletics Championships winners
21st-century New Zealand women journalists
21st-century New Zealand sportswomen
Women sportswriters