Barry A E Stewart 1971 – 1975

In 1975 he was a member of the School Council. He was also a member of the 1st XI Cricket in 1974 and 1975. A 'Blue' was gained for Cricket in both of these years. He also played Rugby.

Barry started his career as a Cadet Sports Sub-editor at the Otago Daily Times (ODT) in 1977. He moved to Sydney for five years and was Deputy Sports Editor of The Australian newspaper before returning to the ODT in 1986.

He has held a number of executive positions at the newspaper, including Layout Director, Features Editor, Associate Editor and Deputy Editor.

Barry has led ODT special projects including the Class Act programme, and has edited and designed books and other Allied Press special publications. Barry was appointed as Editor of the Otago Daily Times on the 12th of August, 2015 by the Managing Director of Allied Press, Sir Julian Smith. Barry was the 15th Editor in the 154-year history of New Zealand's oldest daily newspaper. By that stage he had spent about 35 years in the newspaper business.

He was also appointed the Editor-in-chief of Allied Press Community newspapers The Star, The Ensign, Mountain Scene, Central Otago News, Southern Rural Life, The Courier (Timaru), Central Rural Life, Ashburton Courier, The News (North Canterbury), Southland Express and the Oamaru Mail.

Barry’s strengths were in layout and production, in visualising what makes a page compelling and pleasing for the readers. During Barry’s editorship the newspaper has been a finalist in the 'Newspaper of the Year' category in the Voyager Media Awards, as well as being the countries most trusted newspaper two years in a row in the AUT Journalism, Media and Research Centre’s annual survey.

Barry said the public trust in the Otago Daily Times to provide fair and balanced coverage is one of the achievements he is most proud of during his editorship.

Barry announced his retirement as Editor in March 2023. He stayed in the role until late May 2023.