Hawke's Bay exporter awards open

ENTRIES CALL: ExportNZ Hawke's Bay chairman and awards judge Alasdair MacLeod and ExportNZ Hawke's Bay executive officer Amanda Liddle are calling for entries for the ExportNZ ASB awards.

Hawke's Bay export successes will be celebrated at the region's third export awards in June.

Entries are open to exporters from Gisborne to Waipukurau and close on June 9.

Entrants in the ExportNZ ASB Awards must earn at least $100,000 in export revenue, be able to describe their company and its achievements in export and be visited by judges in June.

Awards to be decided are: Tomoana Food Hub Innovation in Export Award, Marsh Insurance Most Sustainable in Business, and two new categories - Napier Port Industry Trail Blazer Award, and NZL ContainerCo Emerging Exporter Award.

The winners of the first three categories will then contest the supreme award of the ASB Exporter of the Year.

Last year's supreme winner was lighting, furniture, and jewellery designer David Trubridge. He said his company entered to see how it measured up against others.

"I have always been proud that we can run an international company from Whakatu," Mr Trubridge said.

"We joke about having our tagline as Milan, New York, Whakatu . . . but I do think it is important to promote this message that you can do this kind of thing without being in Auckland, let alone the middle of Europe."

The winners will be announced at the Awards Gala Dinner in the Napier Conference Centre on June 28.

Judges are ExportNZ Hawke's Bay chairman Alasdair MacLeod, NZ Trade and Enterprise customer director Amanda Martin, ASB head of international trade Mike Atkins, and Wayne Norrie, chairman of the Hi Tech Trust and chairman of Online Republic.

"Exporting is a big and growing part of business in Hawke's Bay and is crucial to the local economy, so we're delighted we can again celebrate the best we have to offer," ExportNZ Hawke's Bay executive officer Amanda Liddle said.

"Our companies produce around 9 per cent of New Zealand's port exports worth more than $4.4 billion a year, and it's great to be able to recognise those achievements."

Entry forms, criteria details and registration forms for the awards dinner are available on the ExportNZ website exportnz.org.nz or through amanda@exportnz.org.nz.