29th March 2019

WINNERS OF INAUGURAL FAR NORTH GO GREEN AWARDS ANNOUNCED!

Winners of the first-ever Far North Go Green Awards were announced last night at The Duke of Marlborough Hotel in Russell to a sell-out crowd of over 150.

Taking out the Supreme Award was Project Island Song, an organisation of volunteers involved in habitat restoration, pest eradication and species reintroduction on seven islands of Ipipiri, the eastern Bay of Islands, in collaboration with the Department of Conservation,Guardians of the Bay of Islands Inc., and Te Rawhiti hapū.

Project Island Song won the Good Green Idea category of the Far North Go Green Awards before going on to win the Supreme Award over other category winners.

Good Green Idea Award                -                       Project Island Song

Outstanding Citizen Award           -                       Cliff Colquhoun, CBEC

Outstanding Organisation Award -                      Sea Cleaners, Far North

Outstanding School Award            -                       Hukerenui School

Recycled Fashion Award                -                       Claudine Maynard

Accepting the trophy on the night on behalf of Project Island Song was Project Manager, Richard Robbins.

“I felt very honoured to accept the award on behalf of all our volunteers, staff, project partners and our backers, because it reinforces how we work,” he said.

Speaking for the judges, Russell businessman, Ross Blackman, said there was ‘considerable’ discussion among the adjudicators but in the end, Project Island Song won the Supreme Award ‘by a considerable margin’.

The Go Green Award judges are all Russell locals – Antonio Pasquale, Terry Greening, Ross Blackman and Alastair MacDuff. The Recycled Fashion judges are Janet Planet and Jayne Shirley.

Taking out the Recycled Fashion Award was Claudine Maynard of Russell. Her creation was made from an old sail she rescued from the dump with accessories gathered from what she says were ‘old marine fittings’ such as shackles and old ropes.  The garment was modelled by Amy Nodder.

A special merit award went to eight-year-old Ruby Tauri and her six-year-old brother, Nico, who designed and made a korowai using the insulation surrounding My Food Bag packaging.

Trophies presented on the night are made from recycled materials by Kerikeri artisan, Dillon Te Puke. Two MCs for the event were Hon John Carter for the Far North Green Awards category and Ailsa Murray for the Recycled Fashion Award section.

The awards were made possible by grants from the Bay of Islands-Whangaroa Community Board and the Creative Communities Scheme. Chairman of Russell Recyclers, John Maxwell, said all early predictions for the awards were exceeded.

“Tickets to the event sold out six weeks prior which showed the Far North community embraced the concept to acknowledge the efforts by hundreds of people in the region who are literally cleaning up the environment.

 “Interestingly, three months after Russell Recyclers announced the Far North Go Green Awards, the Northland Regional Council revealed their own environment awards which gives truth to the adage that ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’.”  

For further information please contact:

Sandy Myhre, Event Director    sandymyhre@gmail.com          027 667 8591

John Maxwell, Chairman.         resilientrussell@gmail.com       027 380 5640