Rotorua Young Achievers celebrates 30-year milestone with special function

The late Owen Howard started Rotorua Young Achievers 30 years ago. Photo / Supplied

Three decades of recognising local youth talent and dedication is being celebrated, with 30 years' worth of images to be showcased.

This year marks 30 years since the late Owen Howard started the Rotorua Young Achievers awards that recognise and celebrate the diverse talents of Rotorua's youth.

A special function is being held on Saturday, November 28 at the Rotorua Energy Events Centre.

The event will both acknowledge the 2020 achievers and share 30 years' worth of images, now digitalised, of past achievers.

Lee-Anne Thompson, Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust secretary/administrator, said it was great to be able to continue with Howard's vision three decades later.

She said the awards had been a great way of recognising the talents of Rotorua's young people and celebrating their contribution to their schools and to the wider Rotorua community.

"Since the programme was established in 1991, more than 1300 local secondary school students have been recognised for talents as diverse as cultural, sporting, academic, music leadership, school and community involvement."

Rotorua Young Achievers came about when Howard, a local photographer, had the vision to celebrate the achievements of Rotorua youth at a time when there was a lot of youth negativity.

He felt it was important to uplift rangatahi as well as sharing their achievements with the wider community.

"We have had really positive feedback from schools and the young achievers themselves that it's something to aspire to – the awards cover a broad field of talents so it's an even playing field for all youth, not just academic achievers."

Haana Howard, Owen Howard's daughter and a Rotorua Lakes High School teacher, said her dad always had an appreciation for youth talent and untapped talent, and really wanted to acknowledge it publicly.

She said the response was really positive when he first started Rotorua Young Achievers.

"The response in town was huge and it quickly grew in momentum. Schools all took it on board.

"It kept him going. It was the highlight of his year, it meant so much to him every year and he never got tired of it.

"He looked forward to getting to know the individuals and celebrating their talent every year."

She said celebrating 30 years of her dad's vision was incredibly humbling.

"I know before he passed away it was humbling for him that it was still going and had a massive following.

"For me, it's really emotional, and cool to see it still going."

Haana Howard said she had been to every single Rotorua Young Achievers celebration and now she went in her capacity as year 13 dean, as well as Owen's daughter.

She thanked Lee-Anne for the work she had done carrying on and co-ordinating the Young Achievers, bringing together the whole process - "She's outstanding".

Previous Young Achievers can join the private Facebook group to see their photos and share stories of where they are now.

Tickets for the 30-year celebration function are available to buy from the Energy Events Centre or online through Ticketmaster.