Receiving a Queen's honour award from the Governor-General was "a bit different from going down to report on the local Chamber of Commerce meeting," says former Rotorua newspaper editor Phil Campbell.
Mr Campbell received the Queens Service Medal (QSM) for services to sport and journalism at the investiture ceremony at Government House yesterday.
The recently retired Rotorua Review editor spent 44 years as a journalist beating daily deadlines on newspapers in Blenheim, Wellington and Rotorua. "It's quite an elevating experience to see at first hand the protocols happening in a very formal way," he said of the investiture ceremony.
"It doesn't get much bigger."
Two Rotorua women who received Queens Birthday honours in June will be invested by Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae at a ceremony at Government House in Wellington today.