The 2025 awards will be held at Holy Trinity Tauranga on Thursday, 20 March 2025.
The Western Bay of Plenty is set to honour its remarkable community champions with the announcement of finalists for the 2025 Western Bay Community Awards. These annual awards celebrate inspiring individuals, groups, and organisations making a meaningful impact across the community through seven award categories. The awards recognise excellence in areas such as community events, sustainability, diversity and inclusion, collaboration, volunteering and youth community involvement, as well as being at the heart of their community.
The 2025 Western Bay Community Awards are made possible through the invaluable support of award partners including Acorn Foundation, BayTrust, Tauranga City Council, TECT and Western Bay of Plenty District Council. The commitment of these award partners to the community reflects the spirit of these awards, helping to highlight and celebrate our local heroes dedicated to positive change.
Mel Tata, Paul Geoghegan, and Vicki Semple formed the 2025 judging panel who were recently tasked with selecting finalists from a field of over 80 outstanding nominations. Paul Geoghegan noted he was again, blown away by this year’s nominations and always finds it inspiring to see the sheer dedication and passion that community members and groups bring to their chosen area throughout Tauranga and the Western Bay.
“We had some great discussions around the individuals, groups, organisations, events and projects nominated and it was yet again hard to select just a handful of finalists for each category when so many deserve to be recognised.”
Alastair Rhodes, Chief Executive of BayTrust emphasised the importance of acknowledging community contributions, stating, “We’re honoured to support the Western Bay Community Awards as a platform that shines a spotlight on the efforts of individuals making a real difference in our communities.”
The 2025 awards host seven categories, and locals will be able to learn more about each finalist when the online showcase of all finalists goes live in the new year, consisting of a video introducing all finalists from all award categories. During this time, the community can also vote in the People’s Choice Award from the full list of finalists throughout February.
The finalists for the 2025 Western Bay Community Awards are:
Community Event Award
Climate Action Festival
Papamoa Light Up the Waterways – Te Ara ō Wairārkei Matariki 2024
Te Puna Memorial Hall Harvest Market
Toi Kiri World Indigenous Festival
Youth Fest
Sustainable Future Award
Friends of Summerhill
Manaaki Kaimai Mamaku Trust
Outflow Trust
The Wednesday Challenge
Western Bay Wildlife Trust
Diversity and Inclusion Award
Rainbow Youth
Senior Chef – Tauranga
Spectrum Connections Charitable Trust
STEAM-Ed Charitable Trust
Unseen Heroes
Heart of the Community Award
Brave Hearts
Good Neighbour
Otumoetai Social Supermarket
MenzShed Omokoroa
The Elms Foundation – Volunteer Team
Youth Spirit Award
Hamish Tanner
Justin Russell
Kennedy Meads
Liam Shanahan
Volunteer of the Year Award
Donna Pferfferle
Laurie Sanders
Lindi Jones
Melvern Wainwright
Phil Waters
Best Collaboration Award
Climate Action Festival
Kaimai Mamaku Restoration Project
Matariki Katikati
Te Whānau a Tauwhao and Otawhihi Marae
Super Support
The winners for each category will be announced at the 2025 Western Bay Community Awards ceremony on Thursday, 20 March 2025, where all finalists will be celebrated for their contributions. The awards ceremony promises to be an uplifting evening, bringing together individuals from diverse sectors to acknowledge and applaud the efforts that shape the Tauranga and Western Bay community.
All nominees, nominators, and finalists will be invited to the awards early in the new year, and the awards are open to the general public. To learn more, visit https://www.tect.org.nz/community-awards-2025/
