A Wanganui group's idea for disaster-recovery logistics has been recognised on the international stage.
In July, Wanganui was one of six New Zealand cities hosting the 46-hour data competition, GovHack, where teams came up with new ways to present government data for various outlets such as smartphone applications and websites.
Wanganui's River Hacktivists were named runners-up in the international disaster-mitigation category at an awards night in Sydney.
The team, which was Richard Collins, Donald Gordon, Steven Johnson and Simon Hielberi, came up with their Community Response idea at the Wanganui GovHack competition which was held two weeks after the June flood.
They found there was a need to match up those who could offer help with those that needed it. They developed a smartphone app which took people's details and matched them.
"The idea was that people could help themselves," Mr Collins said. "We did see that the people who were taking care of it were having a challenge matching needs with resources just because of the size of it."
A party of six Wanganui representatives, including Mr Collins, attended the three-hour red carpet awards event in Sydney on Saturday night.
The River Hacktivists' prize included $2000 cash along with medals and certificates.
Another Wanganui team, Foodrate Wanganui which was a national finalist, demonstrated its project at the Sydney show. Foodrate is a website which allows people to search a database of Wanganui eateries to get is council health rating and customer reviews.
Whanganui and Partners innovation leader and one of the Wanganui GovHack organisers, Marianne Archibald, watched the awards night which was streamed online.
She said it was a great experience for the schoolchildren, Tyler Pomeroy and Eden Fee, who were part of the Foodrate Wanganui team, to see they were part of a big international event. "Everyone loved them," she said. "They're really good at working a room as well."