Recognising 'Friends of New Zealand'

The 2010 World Class New Zealand Awards have introduced a new category, ‘Friend of New Zealand’, to recognise non-Kiwis who act as ambassadors promoting and celebrating New Zealand on the world stage.

And nominations for the 2010 World Class New Zealand Awards are now open. This gives New Zealanders one month to put forward names of successful New Zealanders and global ‘friends of New Zealand’, who help enhance New Zealand’s reputation around the world.

Nominations close 15 October, 2009 and the awards will be presented at a gala dinner in Auckland on 24 March, 2010.

The World Class New Zealand Awards have been running for seven years and are presented by Kea New Zealand with support from New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.

Multi-Oscar winner Richard Taylor was celebrated as the Supreme Winner in the 2009 World Class New Zealand Awards. Other category winners included fashion designer Karen Walker and Craig Nevill-Manning, who created the Maori language option for Google's search engine.

Kea co-founder and chair of judges Sir Stephen Tindall says the World Class New Zealand Awards hold a special place on the country’s awards calendar in that they look beyond our shores to showcase New Zealand's best talent.

“The exciting thing is, every year the Awards seem to grow and we've only just touched on the number of talented New Zealanders out there.

“There are large numbers of Kiwis living and working overseas. The challenge is keeping them connected to New Zealand and helping them to contribute to our success on the global stage – something Kea seeks to promote through its global network of Kiwi expats and other friends of New Zealand.”

Sir Stephen says the new ‘Friend of New Zealand’ category has been introduced to acknowledge a wider community of people working to build global connections with New Zealand and helping to support Kiwi businesses internationally.

“These are people who talk publicly about New Zealand, invest in New Zealand and actively support New Zealand organisations and causes. Often they reflect values that define New Zealanders that we hold dear - qualities such as integrity, ingenuity and generosity.”

The judging panel for the 2010 World Class New Zealand Awards includes Sir Stephen Tindall, Jon Mayson, John Stace, Professor Peter Gluckman, Jane Hunter and Rod Drury.

Nominees are evaluated against five main criteria, with a focus on promoting New Zealand internationally, building global connections and facilitating the exchange of information, knowledge and skills from and about the country.

Awards are made in eight categories, along with a supreme winner who may be appointed from outside these categories.

 World Class New Zealand Award categories are:

•          Supreme

•          New thinking 

•          Friend of New Zealand  

•          Biotechnology

•          Creative Industries

•          Finance, Investment and Business Services

•          Information and Communications Technology

•          Manufacturing

•          Research, Science, Technology and Academia

To nominate your World Class New Zealander visit: www.keanewzealand.com/wcnz/nominate/index.html