New Zealand punches above its weight. Not just in rugby, either. Online, other sports, and in the entertainment industry. Check out just three of our amazing young women, all finalists in NZ Herald New Zealander of the Year Awards last year  - all working hard, thinking smart, with supportive families and kicking arse on the world stage while still in their teens.

Jamie Currie

Jamie lives on the West Coast of New Zealand and has been making youtube.com videos for two years. Her stats speak for themselves: 350,000 Twitter followers, 1.25 million YouTube.com subscribers and over 10 million Likes on Facebook. She's quirky and creative, funny and sweet, and obviously knows exactly what she's doing on the web. It's going to be interesting watching where she goes from here.

Lydia Ko

Lydia Ko isn't actually 18 yet - we need to wait until April 2015 for that. Lydia's been a professional golfer for a year and she's doing just fine. Today she won the LPGA Tour's season ending Tour Championship and the Race to the CME Globe title - that's $1.9 million in real money. She's the real deal folks.

Lorde

A little over a year ago, Lorde flew to London and appeared on Later with Jools Holland to sing her break-through hit Royals. Her performance was powerful, and wonderful, but boy, has she grown from then to now. An amazing young woman who seems to have embraced her "witchy moves",  her skill with lyrics and taste in music. She is who she is and she's incredible.

Associated links: 

• Jamie's World (YouTube)
• Lydia Ko (Wikipedia)
• Lorde (Later, with Jools Holland)
• Millennials (Wikipedia)
• Editorial: Exceptional talents make one choice impossible (NZHerald)