New Zealand’s best TikTok content creator crowned

November 26, 2025

Māori father-of-three Louis Davis, who shares heartwarming and funny snippets of his family life, has been crowned NZ Creator of the Year.

Davis describes himself as an “ocean lover”, evidenced by his popular seafood and diving clips on the platform. One of this most popular posts is of him devouring kina with Hollywood actor Jason Momoa.

With a following of 2 million on TikTok, Davis took out the prize at the fifth TikTok Awards in Sydney on Wednesday night, beating The Morning Shift podcast crew, Auckland-based Samoan Daniel Rankin (aka Man Can Cook), Tauranga mum and cook Paris Nuku and Auckland-based DIY renovator and The Traitors NZ star Brit Cunningham.

One of Louis Davis’ most popular TikTok posts is of him devouring kina with Hollywood actor Jason Momoa.

Louise Davis/TikTok

.

‘Man Can Cook’ Daniel Rankin and his pug.

RNZ/Calvin Samuel

Last year, Davis told Woman’s Day he wanted to challenge stereotypes about Māori men and show they are loving fathers who enjoy spending time with their kids.

One recent clip, titled ‘My Dad never had a dad’, shows childhood photos with his father. “He never saw his dad love his mum but I watched him love mine my whole life. He had every excuse to not know how to be a dad … [but] he was the best Dad ever to me.”

Davis’ has made headlines for diving 12 hours near his Northland home to retrieve fresh kina for his then-pregnant wife and sharing his wedding photo outside KFC. He also reportedly turned down offers to plug offshore gambling websites.

New Zealand represented in other categories at the Trans-Tasman awards. Kiwi-Samoan dancer and DJ Lance Savali, based in Auckland, took home Music Artist of the Year Award.

Dancer, musician and DJ Lance Savali

Supplied

The 34-year-old choreographer has toured with Rihanna, performed at the Superbowl with Jennifer Lopez and alongside Beyonce at Coachella. He’s also featured on RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under and Celebrity Treasure Island.

Australian-based Kiwi Andy Hearnden, better known as Andy Cooks, beat chef Vincent Lim, recipe developer and food blogger Catherine Zhang, food artist Laleh Mohmedi and cookbook author Tom Smallwood for the Food Creator of the Year Award.

Hearnden, who has amassed a following of 6 million followers on TikTok with his cooking videos, recently cooked for the All Blacks ahead of their test match against Ireland.

Andy Hearnden (aka Andy Cooks)

andycooks/facebook

The Entertainment Creator of the Year Award went to actor and director Theo Shakes, who earlier this year debuted his own play, The Play that Gets Louder. The 23-year-old has amassed a following of 2 million on the social media platform for his comedic skits.

The 14 awards are voted for by the public.

Last year’s New Zealand Creator of the Year was Māori-Samoan content creator Lisa Perese-Cullen.

Full winners list

Creator of the Year: @havea_676

Video of the Year: @looooooooch

Comedy Creator of the Year: @nansfavourites

TikTok For Good: @josh_neille

Sport & Fitness Creator of the Year: @hannahhpearson

Music Artist of the Year: @lancesavali

NZ Creator of the Year: @louisdavis_

LIVE Creator of the Year: @ulaulaula

TikTok Business of the Year: @allformimi

High Quality Content Creator of the Year: @thedonutdaddy

Fashion & Beauty Creator of the Year: @askellenbeauty

Food Creator of the Year: @andy_cooks

Learn On TikTok: @womenshealthwithheidi

Entertainment Creator of the Year: @theoshakes

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

NZ-AU: Hinen Brings Next-Generation All-in-One Energy Storage to Solar & Storage Live UK 2025

Appier Powers Formosa Optical’s AI Transformation to Win Special Award for Customer Experience for Asia Pacific in the 2025 IDC Future Enterprise Awards

Vingroup Builds Vietnam’s Future by Pursuing the Hard Path

RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM AUTHOR