Te Puke’s Business Excellence Awards are back in 2023

2021 Te Puke Business Excellence Awards organiser Sabrina Harms, Supreme Award-winner Miriam Canty, co-owner of Anann Pineapple Pub, and Bennetts Proactive director Lance Ewens at the last awards.

September 15 is a date for the diaries of those looking forward to the 2023 Te Puke Business Excellence Awards.

The last awards were presented at a glitzy event in Te Puke Memorial Hall in July 2021, with Anann Pineapple Pub owners Miriam Canty and Leigh Bartosh taking the Supreme Award. Sabrina Harms, who organised the event, will also be back on board this year.

Te Puke Economic Development Group is behind the awards, and managing director Mark Boyle says the move to September makes sense.

“That timing suits people best. It’s past kiwifruit [season], and then they need June, July and August, those three months, to get it judged,” he says.

There has also been a shake-up of award categories, with new titles: Best Emerging Business, Outstanding Community Contribution, Excellence in Sustainability, Excellence in Innovation, Ultimate Customer Experience and Leader of the Year. There will still be a Supreme Award-winner.

Those nominating will be given the chance to propose which category or categories each business should be judged in.

“So, people can nominate one business and say they think they should be judged on sustainability or ultimate customer experience, so once the nomination is accepted, when the judges go, [they’re] going to look particularly at those categories and where the business fits into them.”

Mark says the turnout at the last awards was amazing.

After some disruption, the plan is to now continue to hold the awards every other year.

He says it is important to recognise business excellence.

“Businesses are meeting the needs of consumers and industry across the district, so it’s very important to highlight them, to give them the opportunity to participate in the process where we search for and judge excellence, and it’s a great way of bringing the business community together as one so that they can understand we have a value proposition. Business drives communities, so if you keep bringing it to the fore and highlighting it and judging it and making them part of the process, it shows that we are healthy and focused on being the best we can be.”