Key takeaways

Have fun at award ceremonies and bring your whole team up on the stage to share your prize. Your behaviour will be watched by other company teams who might want to work with you too.

Find out what other award winners are doing well at the event and see what you can learn from them.

It goes against the New Zealand psyche to boast about your business winning an award but if you don’t do it, nobody else will, and it can be a great tool for staff retention, talent attraction and for engaging with your customer base.

In October, adventure game founder, Getting Lost’s Cat Macnaughtan and her team of 19 won big at the 2degrees Auckland Business Awards in October, scooping up the Supreme award and Excellence in Marketing, and Excellence in Strategy and Planning.

“We shared the photos of the night with our community on Facebook, Instagram, email , TikTok and LinkedIn,” says Cat.

“They want to see your face, the joy, the fact that you brought your whole team. People don’t do it enough,” says the entrepreneur. “We bring the noise at every award ceremony, “she says. “Everyone gets behind us and it’s infectious.”.

She and her team have continued talking about the awards in the months afterwards.

“The message is, “We did this together,” it’s less about us being on stage accepting the awards, but more about us having fun,” she says.

And the comments on social media are often, “We’ve been with you from the start,” they have real ownership of the brand, explains the Getting Lost founder.

Winning an award is one of the best kinds of publicity

Awards are a powerful third-party endorsement for a business, setting a brand apart from its competitors, says NSPR director, Rebecca Reid.

“We encourage our clients not to shy away from their own success and to use it to tell their business story - what they do, the values they uphold and what they’re doing well,” she says.

“New Zealanders are a notoriously humble bunch but every business can benefit from good publicity and winning an award is one of the best kinds,” adds Rebecca. It’s a moment to connect with customers, engage your communities and attract top talent.

An awards night is a time to connect with other high achievers

Two Christchurch-based businesses, Home Construction and law firm, Portia both won at the 2024 White Camelia Awards which recognises businesses for championing gender equality in the workplace. Home was Supreme winner this year.

“For us, the White Camelia Awards application process helps us review what we are doing well and highlights areas for future growth and focus,” says Emma Bennett, the company’s People and Culture lead.

“Having more women in construction is vital for the industry’s growth. We are leveraging our win to engage with industry bodies and other passionate women to share the principles and our experience implementing them at Home,” says Emma.

For law firm, Portia, winning an award reflects the maturation of both the business and its leadership, says Portia Principal Lawyer Erin Ebborn. “It can have a profound impact on internal culture and signals the values of the business to its customers, suppliers and peers,” she says.

Every year the firm enters the awards and it sees it as an opportunity to look closely at other award winners to understand what they can be doing better, says Erin.

“We speak to as many award winners as we can and we swap ideas. Every year we test the limits and push ourselves to combine strategy with novelty.”

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Celebrate your awards proudly with your community