Kapiti District Council, Upper Hutt and Wellington City Councils have announced the winners of Community Awards in their regions.
More than 50 community groups have been honoured for their work through the Wellington Airport Regional Community Awards. All 5 regional councils have now announced their winners: Kapiti District Council, Porirua City Council, Upper Hutt City Council, Wellington City Council.
The supreme winners will be announced at an event at Te Papa on 10 November.
About the Community Awards
The Awards are a partnership between Wellington Airport, the Wellington Community Trust and the 5 regional councils: Porirua City Council, Upper Hutt City Council, Kapiti District Council and Wellington City Council.
After all the councils have nominated their local winners, winners in each category for the Wellington region will be announced at a celebration at Te Papa in November.
Hutt City Awards
In a ceremony at the Dowse Galley on 10 September volunteers and groups from Lower Hutt were honoured, with 12 groups receiving Community Awards. The new Rising Star Award was won by Taiohi Morehu, a project that fosters young Māori leaders. The overall winner was Earthlink Incorporated which offers a wide range of services in the community from employment training to recycling.
Earthlink volunteers received their award from the Wellington Community Trust’s Ross Graham (left), Mayor Ray Wallace (centre) and Jo Maxwell from Wellington Airport (right).
Porirua awards
At a ceremony on 28 August at Pataka, volunteer groups in the Porirua area were recognised for their contribution to the community. Mayor Nick Leggett congratulated everyone on the difference they make to the people in their city and Liz Kelly, a trustee of Wellington Community Trust said of the first group to be given the Rising Star award, ‘The winners in this category, Porirua Men United, are a really good example of new initiatives in the community.’ The supreme winner for Porirua was the Virtuoso Strings Charitable Trust.
The winners of the Community Awards for 2015 from the Porirua Council area
Upper Hutt awards
Nearly 60 nominations were received and 43 community groups attended the award ceremony on 26 August. The new Rising Star award went to St Hilda’s Te Kaiawhina/Nga Whanau and the overall award went to the Expressions Whirinaki Arts and Entertainment Centre Volunteers.
Nick Thomas (left), a trustee of the Wellington Community Trust, with members of the Expressions Arts and Entertainment Centre Volunteers, the Supreme Award winners in Upper Hutt of the Wellington International Airport Community Awards.
Kapiti Coast awards
Wellington Community Trust Board member Norrey Simmons presented the awards at a ceremony held at the Paraparamu Golf Club. The Rising Star award went to The Shed Project which provides educational and social opportunities for young adults who have an intellectual disability or have left the state education system. The overall winner was the Kapiti Coast United Sports Club.
From left: Mrs Church, Mayor Ross Church, Leanne Gibson (Wellington Airport), Norrey Simmons (Wellington Community Trust) and the six winners of the 2015 Kapiti District Council Community Awards
Wellington City awards
Mayor Celia Wade-Brown and Dawn Sanders, a trustee of the Wellington Community Trust presented the awards At Te Papa in Wellington. There were 65 nominees this year and the judges were impressed by the high standard of the entries.
The overall winner was The Letting Space, which works with local communities to create large-scale public art works that can enable social change. The new Rising Star award was won by the Community Comms Collective, a voluntary group of experienced communications professionals which helps community organisations.
The winners of the Wellington City Council awards line up together at Te Papa