MC Te Hau Hona warms the crowd up with a waiata
What a fabulous event on Thursday, when over 600 of us gathered in Te Puna to celebrate Unitec’s achievements in 2020 and recognised our shining stars.
We had the largest number of nominations ever, nearly 300 across the 11 categories! From that the judges chose 43 finalists and 16 winners, who were presented trophies on stage, to rapturous applause, many smiles and a lot of aroha.
The awards ceremony was facilitated by our super-talented and entertaining Te Hau Hona from our Kaihautū team, our MC for the day. Te Hau was joined on stage by our Executive Leadership Team who presented the awards to our deserving winners.
Yo Heta_Lensen was recognised for receiving an Ako Tertiary Teaching Award for Sustained Excellence in teaching – Kaupapa Māori, at the national awards earlier this year
The ceremony was followed by a delicious feast of BBQ tacos, salads, pizza and pies, then the dance floor was packed as the DJ spun the decks.
Our Chief Executive Gus Gilmore shared his thoughts on the awards in his weekly Friday update – it was his first Unitec Excellence Awards and he was impressed by the turnout, the achievements, the costumes and the food!
Watch the video below (scroll down) to see the names and photos of our winners with our ELT members, and visit our Excellence Awards 2020 page to see the full list of finalists and winners. View all the photos here.
Best dressed: the Alice in Wonderland crew and the Hobbit’s Thranduil (from left) – Peaches King, Myah Flynn, Ruth Marsters, Philip Bennette and Raina Taite
A huge congratulations to all who received an award on Thursday. And to our finalists and nominees, well done – being nominated is a huge honour and you have a lot to be proud of.
Our Best-dressed
It was great to see so many people make an effort to shine on the day, with some creative costumes as well as great efforts to create some sparkle and colour. Our judges Lynda Toki, our Kai Awhina, and Elvis (Niko Tominiko – Pacific Success Director) were super impressed – thank you both for your time and Niko for bringing Elvis and initiating the ‘dance off’. Winners were:
Best-dressed: Myah Flynn – Library Customer Service Assistant, ethereal and majestic, as Thranduil the Elvenking from the Hobbit. The super talented Myah made all of her costume herself, including the lighted headpiece. She also assisted the best-dressed team with their wonderful make-up.
Elvis and Freddie: Niko Falaniko and Ciarin Butler-Smith
Best-dressed: Ciarin Butler-Smith – Product Marketing Business Partner as Freddie Mercury, was totally in-character, replicating Freddie’s signature moves.
Best-dressed team: Student Events and Communications team – Ruth Marsters, Peaches King, Philip Bennett and Raina Taite, as characters from Alice in Wonderland, stand-outs in their quirky costumes and made-up.
Best-dressed team ‘dance off’: This was an impromptu event initiated by our Pacific Elvis, so thank you to the three teams involved for being such ‘good sports’ and for your enthusiastic participation. You looked great, we loved your moves and you got everyone moving and onto the dance floor! Dance-off team were the Supported Learning Ballerinas, School of Trades Men in Black (with some great dance moves), and the the School of Computing, Electrical and Applied Technology team mahi kotahitanga who won by 0.1 point – thank you everyone!
Enjoy the photobooth? Check out your pics
There’s lots of great pics so have a look and you can also download the photos go to the Hot Shots Photobooth online gallery, using the password – UNITEC.