Editorial: Tough task choosing our unsung hero

Congratulations to Ian Emmerson - Hawke's Bay Today Person of the Year 2015.

The managing director of Emmerson Transport was awarded the accolade this week by a judging panel that I had the good fortune to be on.

My fellow judges were our deputy editor Mark Story and our three local MPs Stuart Nash, Meka Whaitiri and Craig Foss. The judging sessions were robust, but I suppose that is to be expected when you have politicians in the room. I do want to thank the judges for their hard work and there is no doubt that they care deeply about our province.

We had a number of nominations come in this year and from the moment I saw some of them I realised that the task was going to be very tough indeed.

There were two categories of nominees - those who have worked very hard over the years, giving selflessly to the community and charities, with this past year being no exception; and those who have done something outstanding this year.

Mr Emmerson falls into the first category. The list of things he does is pretty impressive, with his work with Trucking for Child Cancer and Little Elms very notable achievements. He is also well regarded in his profession and is president of the Hawke's Bay Branch of the Road Transport Association and sits as an executive of the Central Area of the Road Transport Association.

Unfortunately for us, we were unable to hand over the trophy to Mr Emmerson as he was away from Hawke's Bay this week, but hopefully we will be able to do so soon.

His victory was well deserved but he certainly had fierce competition and the four other finalists bear testament to that.

Napier lawyer Jonathan Krebs needs no introduction and hit the headlines this year for his success at the Privy Council in the Teina Pora case. Then there is Bill Meek, who has done a lot for rugby in Wairoa; Ngaire Shand who has made it her life's mission to introduce children to music; and opera singer Anna Pierard who has given Bay youngsters the chance to showcase their talents.

To all the finalists - thank you for your contribution to Hawke's Bay.