Excellence Awards

The 2024 LGFA Taituarā Local Government Excellence Awards® are for programmes, projects, and approaches that demonstrate professional excellence in local government management. The awards are open to any council, or council-controlled organisation (CCO) in Aotearoa New Zealand.

About the LGFA Taituarā Local Government Excellence Awards ®

The LGFA Taituarā Local Government Excellence Awards® support a culture of success in the local government sector and encourage the sharing of good ideas and good practice amongst local authorities. Councils are encouraged to enter to impact the local government sector and to gain recognition of their excellent work.

Lessons from the winners, and many other entries will be used to inform development and redevelopment of guides and training for the sector.

Recent Supreme Award winners include:

2023 - Hutt City Council, Takai Here Tāngata
2022 - Far North District Council, Te Hiku o te Ika Revitalisation Project
2021 - Western Bay of Plenty District Council, The Transfer of Panepane Purukau
2020 - Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Te Arawa Catfish Killas
2019 - Auckland Council, Kia Puāwai
2018 - Waikato Regional Council, Kawe Kōrero
2017 - Waimakariri District Council, Draft Waimakariri Residential Red Zone Recovery Plan
2016 - Hamilton City Council, Council Transforms A City Dump – the Hamilton Gardens Project
2015 - Selwyn District Council, Project Heli

Excellence Award categories

There are seven Excellence Award categories. From these categories, a Supreme winner is selected.

• Excellence in Organisation and People Development
• The Datacom Award for Excellence in Digital Local Government
• The Department of Internal Affairs Award for Excellence in Community Engagement
• BERL Award for Excellence in Collaborating for Results
• The Beca Award for Excellence in Placemaking
• Te Tohu Waka Hourua (the Double Canoe) – Buddle Findlay Award for Excellence in Māori-Council Partnerships
• The GHD Award for Excellence in Environmental Leadership

How to enter

Entries are now closed for 2024.

Tips on how to win an Excellence Award

We have recorded a webinar detailing How to win an Excellence Award that you can watch online. You need to be logged in to watch this recording. You can log in or sign up here.

Examples of previous successful entries

Here are two examples of successful entries to serve as a source of inspiration and of design ideas.

Hutt City council won the 2023 Supreme Award for its entry Takai Here Tāngata.

Auckland Council’s entry Kia Puāwai won the Supreme Award in 2019 and remains the entry that received the highest overall score from the judges since Taituarā moved to this awards format in 2015.

Read about previous winners below

About the 2023 Excellence Awards
About the 2022 Excellence Awards
About the 2021 Excellence Awards

Thank you to our sponsors

Overseas Manager Exchange Programme

The Taituarā Overseas Manager Exchange Programme is designed to provide local government managers with an opportunity to focus on their management development and career in local government through a short exchange with a partner manager in another country.

About the Taituarā Overseas Manager Exchange Programme

Many Taituarā members have benefited from the professional, personal and cultural experience that our Overseas Manager Exchange offers. Previous recipients have gone back to their local authorities inspired and armed with a better perspective and increased knowledge of local government. Exchange recipients are surprised how similar the challenges faced by their overseas colleagues are to their own.

Each exchange involves a hosted visit to the destination country and the reciprocal hosting of a visitor from that country during the time period of 2024 Taituarā Conference.

We have reciprocal arrangements with four destination countries:

• United States
• New South Wales, Australia
• Queensland. Australia
• British Columbia, Canada

The Overseas Manager Exchange Programme is one of a range of Taituarā initiatives that provide leadership and development opportunities specifically tailored to the local government environment.

How to apply

Applications are now closed for 2024.

Read about previous recipients below

About the 2023 Overseas Manager Exchange
About the 2021 Overseas Manager Exchange

Stories from our winners

• Barbara Whitton, Western Bay of Plenty District Council - 2018 Overseas Manager Exchange Recipient to South Australia
• Marianne Cavanagh, Whanganui District Council - 2018 Overseas Manager Exchange Recipient to Australia
• Sheryl Bryant, Palmerston North City Council - 2018 Overseas Manager Exchange Recipient to the US
• Alan Adcock, Whangarei District Council - 2019 Overseas Manager Exchange Recipient to Australia
• Emma Davis, Christchurch City Council - 2019 Overseas Manager Exchange Recipient to the US
• Glenn Young, Manawatū District Council - 2019 Overseas Manager Exchange Recipient to Canada
• Bronda Smith, Carterton District Council - 2019 Overseas Manager Exchange Recipient to the South Australia
• Rex Capil, Gore District Council - 2020 Overseas Manager Exchange Recipient to Canada
• Karel Boakes, Manawatū District Council - 2020 Overseas Manager Exchange Recipient to South Australia
• Jason Marris, Kaipara District Council - 2021 Overseas Manager Exchange Recipient to the US
• Dennise Elers, Central Hawke’s Bay District Council - 2023 Overseas Manager Exchange Recipient to Australia

If you have any queries regarding these Exchanges, please contact us at awards@taituara.org.nz

Thank you to our sponsors

Emerging Leader of the Year Award

The Sheffield Emerging Leader of the Year Award recognises an emerging local government leader, aged 35 or under, who has a proven track record of designing or delivering innovative and successful programmes, projects, processes, or practices with an identifiable community impact.

About the Sheffield Emerging Leader of the Year Award

The Sheffield Emerging Leader of the Year Award is offered as an important aspect of the Taituarā strategy to support increased leadership capability in the sector. The Sheffield Emerging Leader of the Year Award is part of the Taituarā LGLeadership Pathways initiative which includes a range of programmes and activities that provide staff across the sector with outstanding leadership development opportunities.

The recipient will attend the ICMA Conference in the United States.

How to apply

Nominations are now closed for 2024.

Read about previous recipients below

About the 2023 Emerging Leader of the Year
About the 2022 Emerging Leader of the Year
About the 2021 Emerging Leader of the Year

Stories from our winners

• Natasha Stubbing, Northland Regional Council - 2022 Emerging Leader of the Year Recipient
  
• Shyamal Ram, Waitomo District Council - 2022 Emerging Leader of the Year Recipient
  
• Lauren Baddock, Horowhenua District Council - 2023 Emerging Leader of the Year Recipient

If you have any queries regarding this Award, please contact us at awards@taituara.org.nz