THE 2011 GOLD AWARDS
The Gold Awards are an annual celebration and profiling of the Wellington region's business community.
The Awards Night is an important date on the Wellington calendar whereby about 800 people congratulate and acknowledge the Wellington region's successful businesses and their outstanding owners, managers and teams.
Special Tributes are also bestowed on deserving individuals and special projects or initiatives that have had a positive impact on the Wellington region.
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2011 GOLD AWARDS CALENDAR
ENTRIES OPEN Tuesday February 1st
ENTRIES CLOSE Friday March 4th
JUDGING ROUND 1 Friday March 18th - Thursday April 7th
PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS FINALISTS ANNOUNCEMENT Tuesday April 12th
JUDGING ROUND 2 Friday April 22nd - Thursday May 12th
THE 2011 GOLD AWARDS Wednesday May 18th, TSB Bank Arena.
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THE FIRST 10 YEARS....
Incredibly 2008 marked the tenth Gold Awards!! We at Team Gold were just a bit proud. Yet it all happened so fast.....
• 1999
Way back in 1999 on the initiative of Mayor John Terris at Hutt City, and after getting a very favourable response to the sponsorship campaign we launched the Gold Awards and tentatively awaited the nominations and entries. And in they came!
So the first Gold Awards were held theatre style in the foyer of the newly opened Te Papa. 430 people attended and apart from a stage dive by one performer, it went off really well. Dame Cheryll Sotheran wept with surprise when she picked up the joint supreme award for Te Papa (despite not winning their category) alongside the dashing Jack Mathews of Saturn Communications.
The feedback was encouraging and we decided to go bigger by having a black tie dinner. Neville Brown from the Convention Centre offered us The Old Town Hall, where we stayed for the next 5 years regularly squeezing 500-600 folk in for an annual night of celebration.
• 2000
In 2000 the theme was "Greek" inspired by that famous cry from a mediterranean mathematician in his bath. Two greek gods were contracted to open the night. It was MCed by Television One personality, Telstra Business's Michael Wilson - who kindly allowed us to film him in his bath demonstrating Archimedes' fine principle. Guests included Nana Mouskouri (we think) and all sorts of folk with mono-brows and togas. A near collision by a farmbike (ask Stu!) with a pillar (yes, Ionic) was not quite averted and the supreme award went to Ray Thompson and Cloud Nine Screen Entertainment.
• 2001
In 2001 - a space odyssey? Why not! The Golds ventured into the final frontier by retelling the Moon Race. Each table boasted a moon rock centrepiece. Robyn Falconer from GNS actually took his rock up for his winners speech saying it made him feel very at home. A young Jeremy Moon and Icebreaker won Emerging Gold (jointly!) and didn't look back. The New Zealand International Festival of the Arts' Carla van Zon picked up the supreme award primarily for delivering the exceptional Edinburgh Tattoo.
• 2002
For 2002, we wanted to go global with The Golden Age of Cruise Liners. The Town Hall was awash with wealthy cruise passengers and their luggage. The awards were ostensibly given out at various exotic locations. The supreme award went naturally to Weta Workshop right in the middle of their Lord of the Rings Trilogy behemoth. The best outfit was awarded to the inimitable Barbara Bercic and her slave (read husband) and she gave the best speech of the night.
• 2003
It was down to the track in 2003 with A Night at the Races. Two officials on horses greeted a host of jockeys, bookies and glamourous punters... outside. There were lots of big, and sometimes strange hats, Kerry Prendergast wore a Gold Beehive number. Jamie Selkirk from Weta Digital picked up the blue ribbon (a double) Trackside's Karyn Fenton MCed to a packed stand and the Golds won by a length again.
• 2004
By now The Town Hall was fair groaning with Golds, so Neville offered The Events Centre as a new and bigger home for 2004. We needed a BIG theme, so the 70s Hollywood Cinema Revolution it was. We watched snippets of Jaws, Easy Rider (OK it was '68 but still groundbreaking) The Godfather and other masterpieces of the day, eating popcorn and jaffa nibbles that lasted not long enough. Don Corleone even swung by to deliver some advice on negotiation techniques. We delighted as Mario Wynands, Tyrone McAuley and the squad (all in fabulous polyester flares) from Sidhe Interactive (an IT start up) picked up the supreme award - one for the little guy!
• 2005
In 2005 the Golds got Brazilian with scantily clad (but very agile) samba dancers and drummers. MC Frankie Stevens belted out "Quando Quando". "Guests" included what appeared to be the entire Brazilian soccer team, feathers were mandatory and the night resembled a small antipodean Mardi Gras. The whole room stood for Alan Martin who received the first The Dominion Post Wellington Icon Award - one of the most moving moments in our 10 years. And appropriately another big party picked up the supreme award - The AXA International Sevens collected and held aloft victoriously by Steve Walters, then promptly broken at the table - those boys!!
• 2006
Not wanting to forget our roots we made it real in 2006 with a Kiwi Backyard Barbie hosted by Gary McCormick. Lyn of Tawa made her triumphant comeback and was then escorted off stage by a team of marching girls. We supped on savs and pavs. And remembered all the corker things that make us NZ. The supreme award went to the blokes who re-invented merino wool at Icebreaker. Gary didn't actually light that monster barbie, but we know he does a mean snag.
• 2007
2007 saw The Golds Go To San Francisco - a town not unlike our own: hills, harbour, cable cars and all that right-brain thinking that we excel at too. SF has iconic brands (Levi's, Apple, Wells Fargo, Hewlett Packard etc), pioneering thinkers (beatniks, hippies and gay priders). One valley (Silicon) started a technology revolution. 820 of us all hoped Wellington can emulate some of these success stories. The supreme winner (another ace exporter) Cameron Gower and phil&teds are just one of ours.
• 2008
And so we were 10! In 2008 we celebrated with a birthday party, hosted by Jon Bridges amidst balloons, streamers and fireworks. A panel of media whizzes were quizzed. The big prize went to Sam Knowles and his Kiwibank team. And we invited back the youngest person ever to attend the Gold Awards - Sasha Boyes who first attended at 3 weeks old and just like us, she has grown.
So over the last decade The Golds have been pretty chuffed to have watched (and presented) the Wellington business landscape, as it has morphed into a much more entrepreneurial high-end value-add kinda town, successfully producing outside-the-box boutique products and services for the global marketplace.
The Gold Awards have been proudly celebrating outstanding business performers in Wellington, Hutt, Upper Hutt, Porirua and Kapiti since 1999.