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Community awards stand the test of time

This year the Environment Southland Community Awards reach a milestone celebrating 25 years of recognising and honouring the dedication and achievements of many of our environmental champions.

The awards have evolved a lot since their inception in 1995. In the beginning, winners were presented with certificates in the council chambers and this has progressed to what we have now; seven categories and almost 400 people attending an awards dinner. The event is an important and much anticipated evening on the environmental calendar.

The format of the awards may have changed, but reasons for running them have stayed the same for the 25 years – recognising and celebrating those who work tirelessly in our community for the benefit of the environment.

Some of our award winners 2004 – 2019.

Two previous award winners, Jenny Campbell and Warwick Day have similar stories to tell. Both say the recognition from their peers was a true highlight of the process.

So often those nominated in the community awards go about their work without any want for recognition, yet when their work is highlighted and celebrated, it is special and memorable.

Warwick Day won the farming category in 1999 for his ‘Singing Hills’ property and, like so many other award nominees, was nominated by others for the work he was doing. He undertook extensive riparian planting, wetland restoration and protection. Over 20 hectares of forest and wetland were given protection in perpetuity under a QEII covenant.

warwick

Warwick Day won the farming category in 1999 for his ‘Singing Hills property’. He’s pictured here in 2012 with his wife Wendy, when he was again a nominee.

Warwick started his riparian management in the early 80s and was heavily involved in conservation. On reflection, Warwick says, “I was ahead of my time and there weren’t many others doing it. I’ve always been a freak with nature,” he laughs.

His experience with the community awards were a “good recognition of his achievements”. Warwick still has his award and keeps an eye on who wins. He is pleased the awards are still going and relevant.

Warwick has since sold his winning property and now owns 4040 hectares of natural landscape in Fairlie, which has little more than a hut to stay in. He tries to get there once a month to go fishing, hunting and mountain biking. “There’s a bit of work there, but I enjoy doing that sort of thing.”

Jenny Campbell is another quiet achiever who doesn’t take to the spotlight, preferring to shine the light on what others are doing. Over the years she has regularly nominated people for awards.

jenny

Jenny Campbell

Jenny has been a recipient of an environment award, though. “They surprised me with it. They knew there was no way I would have accepted the nomination if they had asked. All I could think of was, ‘what about all the others I’ve nominated for this category?’”

Although surprised by the Individual Award in 2007, Jenny says it was a huge honour to have her work affirmed by her peers. “It meant everything.”

Jenny established the Invercargill Environment Centre in 2000 to address many challenges she and others saw in the community. “My aim was to do myself out of a job,” Jenny says, which is exactly what she did. “We were a seed when we started and now others are doing the work.”

The Environment Centre closed in 2017, however Jenny has stayed very involved in the community and the environmental space. “I have a responsibility to my granddaughter, to other grandchildren, to the animals and to those that can’t speak for themselves. I’ve used my share of the world’s resources. We have a responsibility to improve life on earth.”

Jenny sees the Environment Southland Community Awards as having an important role to play in encouraging and inspiring others.

“I’m passionate about putting together nominations. Ensuring a good number of nominations means that when you win, it means something. It’s so wonderful to see people being honoured for the work that they do. If people don’t recognise what others are doing, they won’t keep doing it themselves. We are in this together. He waka eke noa.”

You can read the full Envirosouth magazine as a PDF online here.

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