We hoped for it but we didn’t expect it—so winning the Environmental category at the 2022 Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce Awards was a wonderful boost.
If you were to ask Trust manager, Sky, and operations manager, Abby, if frocking up and spending an evening with Nelson Tasman’s leading business lights sits inside their comfort zones, they’d probably say no.
But on the night of Friday 24 February, they did TET proud.
Not an easy win
The NBS Environmental Award was introduced in 2021. According to NTCC, the award “recognises a programme, project, campaign or an overall business that has had, or continues to have, a positive, long term impact on the Nelson Tasman environment.”
The Chamber takes its awards seriously. Winning isn’t just a matter of ticking off the entry form criteria. The judges interview category finalists and score them on their responses. Last year, we made the finals. This year, we took the prize! And although we’re delighted by the win, we also acknowledge the amazing contribution fellow finalists Kūmānu Environmental and Weka Peckers Recycling are making to sustainability in the Nelson Tasman community.
A special bonus was having the award presented to us by Howie Timms, GM Commercial at NBS. Over the last year, NBS has generously supported our trapping initiatives and we value the relationship that’s developed between Howie and TET.
Why enter awards anyway?
Well, we’ve only entered one :). This was something of an out-of-left-field experiment for TET but the benefits have far outweighed any hesitancy we had about putting ourselves out there.
Exposure
NTCC do a great job of publicising awards entrants, both within their membership and in local media. So TET’s profile has been substantially raised within the Nelson Tasman business community.
Celebrating community
We loved the idea of entering a local award because TET is nothing without the Nelson Tasman community. A win for us is a win for everyone who’s working to safeguard the future environmental health of our region.
Confirmation
Receiving an award like this from objective third party demonstrates that we can back up the claims we make about TET’s aims and successes. It helps build trust and confidence, particularly amongst current and future funders.
And now, all the thanks!
If you’re supporting TET’s work in any way at all—through sponsorship, volunteering on planting days, clearing traps, encouraging others to get involved, heading up projects, fundraising, education, leadership and governance, admin, baking goodies, or simply getting the word out—thank you. We really hope you take ownership of this award because winning it was down to your efforts. All of them. And all of you.
So our heartfelt thanks once again.
