Bloomin' expensive new logo

The $10,000 prize for the designer of the controversial new Supercity logo is a mere fraction of the cost of finessing and marketing the image.

A competition was held for Aucklanders to come up with a logo design. A panel of judges chose an image of a red pohutukawa flower framed in a green circle. The logo was similar to the existing regional parks emblem.

But the Auckland Transition Authority spent another $43,000 honing and marketing the design, on top of the $10,000 prize package.

Competition winner Jean Dean was unperturbed that a small proportion of the logo's pricetag was paid to him: "I realise that a lot of people run these competitions because it's the cheap way out."