The Driver Licensing Improvement Programme team who won the 2024 Te Tohu a te Pirimia | Prime Minister’s Award and Tohu mō ngā Hua E Pai Ake Ana | Better Outcomes Award.

Ngā wāhanga tohu Award categories

  • Te Tohu mō ngā Hua E Pai Ake Ana | Better Outcomes Award

    Te Tohu mō ngā Hua E Pai Ake Ana | Better Outcomes Award celebrates the achievement of significant outcomes in areas that matter most for the long-term wellbeing for New Zealanders.​ 

    The judges will be looking for initiatives that demonstrate spirit of service through: ​ 

    • improving outcomes for significant social, economic or environmental challenges ​ 
    • achieving tangible results with long-term impact​ 

  • Te Tohu Auaha Hou​ | Innovation Award

    Te Tohu Auaha Hou | Innovation Award celebrates new approaches or technologies that are creating positive change.​ 

    The judges will be looking for initiatives that demonstrate spirit of service through:​

    • new or improved services​
    • agility and innovation​ 
    • data, digital or community engagement

  • Te Tohu mō Whai Ratonga​ | Māori Crown Award

    Te Tohu mō Whai Ratonga celebrates outstanding public service contributions to supporting Māori Crown relationships through auahatanga (innovation), whakapūmautanga (durability) and kōwhiringa (opportunities).​ 

    The judges are looking for initiatives that demonstrate impact for iwi, hapū, and whānau Māori through:​ 

    • developing and maintaining the capability of the public service to engage with Māori and to understand Māori perspectives ​ 
    • employment policies that recognise the aims and aspirations of Māori, and support greater involvement of Māori in the public service​ 
    • delivering new initiatives and/or better services that are responsive, more accessible, and demonstrably improve the lives of whānau

  • Te Tohu mō te Hiranga o te Mahi Kaupapa Here | Excellence in Public Policy Award

    Te Tohu mō te Hiranga o te Mahi Kaupapa Here | Excellence in Public Policy Award celebrates outstanding public policy development.  

    The judges will be looking for public policy that: 

    • demonstrates courage, innovation and/or breakthroughs in approach – navigating existing or new issues 
    • demonstrates quality of advice and analysis, informed by evidence and insights 
    • successfully navigates stakeholder interests and values and creates solutions that meet their needs 

  • Te Tohu mō te Kaiārahi Rangatahi o te Tau | Young Leader of the Year

    Te Tohu mō te Kaiārahi Rangatahi o te Tau | The Young Leader of the Year Award celebrates inspirational young public sector leaders.

    The judges will be looking for nominees who demonstrate spirit of service through:

    • exceptional motivation and commitment to delivering for New Zealand and New Zealanders
    • a collaborative approach to engaging and partnering with others
    • setting ambitious goals and a track record early-in-career for delivering results
    • actively supporting others.

    Nominees must be aged 35 years or under as at 31 December in the year of application.

  • Te Tohu Rāngai Tūmatanui mō te Tumuaki o Te Tau | Public Sector Director of the Year Award

    Te Tohu Rāngai Tūmatanui mō te Tumuaki o Te Tau | Public Sector Director of the Year Award celebrates outstanding public sector governance professionals.  

    The judges will be looking for nominees who demonstrate: 

    • a strong commitment to supporting high quality governance in the public sector 
    • exceptional impact delivering improved results and services as a public sector director 
    • impact and leadership across the wider public sector 
    • high levels of integrity. 

  • Te Tohu Oranga Angitū | Lifetime Achievement Award

    Te Tohu Oranga Angitū | The Lifetime Achievement Award honours an individual who has made an exceptional contribution to New Zealand or their community and who exemplifies a spirit of service.

    The recipient is selected by the Public Service Commissioner.

  • Te Tohu a te Pirimia | Prime Minister’s Award

    Te Tohu a te Pirimia | The Prime Minister’s Award for the overall winner of the year is selected from the winners of the Better Outcomes Award, Innovation Award, Whai Ratonga Māori Crown Award and Excellence in Public Policy Award.​

    This award is not open to nominations.

Ngā rā nui Important dates

23 May – Entries due

Early June – Finalists announced

28 July to 6 August – Finalists present to judging panels

4 September – Winners announced at SOSA awards event

Ngā puka whakauru Entry forms

Better Outcomes, Innovation, Whai Ratonga, Public Policy entry form(PDF, 2.9 MB)

Young Leader of the Year Award entry form(PDF, 1.3 MB)

Public Sector Director of the Year Award entry form(PDF, 1.3 MB)

Lifetime Achievement Award form(PDF, 2.9 MB)

Hātepe whakauru Entry process

  • 1. Check eligibility

    Entries are invited from: 

    • Central government departments (Public Service departments, departmental agencies and non-public service departments) 
    • Crown entities (excluding Crown entity subsidiaries and school boards of trustees) 
    • Public Finance Act Schedule 4A organisations 
    • Offices of Parliament 
    • State-owned enterprises, excluding mixed ownership model companies 
    • Tertiary education institutions in the state sector (universities, polytechnics, wānanga) 
    • Local government organisations, excluding council-controlled organisations. 

    Entries for:  

    • Te Tohu mō ngā Hua E Pai Ake Ana | Better Outcomes Award 
    • Te Tohu Auaha Hou | Innovation Award 
    • Te Tohu mō te Hiranga o te Mahi Kaupapa Here | Excellence in Public Policy Award  
    • Te Tohu mō Whai Ratonga | Māori Crown Award  

    will be accepted from single agencies or collaborative cross-agency initiatives and may include partners outside the public sector.  

    Entries for: 

    • Te Tohu mō te Kaiārahi Rangatahi o te Tau | Young Leader of the Year Award must be aged 35 years or under as at 31 December in the year of application. 

    Entries for: 

    • Te Tohu Rāngai Tūmatanui mō te Tumuaki o te Tau | Public Sector Director of the Year Award must be serving or have served on a board within the public sector for a minimum of 5 years. 

     

  • 2. Prepare entry

    We have recorded our information session on Te Hāpai Hapori | Spirit of Service Awards. Watch this short video on the page below for background and tips. We highly recommend you check in with us if you have an idea for an entry. We can provide advice to save you time and help you make your entry more effective.

  • 3. Endorsement

    Your entry must be endorsed by your chief executive or board chair (for Crown entities). If multiple agencies are involved, including partners outside the public sector, each chief executive needs to endorse the entry. A brief email is accepted as endorsement. 

    Please allow enough time for all groups involved to read and endorse the entry. We advise collaborating early with partner agencies to ensure all voices are captured.

  • 4. Submit entry

    Send your entry form to awards@publicservice.govt.nz by the deadline.

  • 5. Entry outcome

    Agency chief executives and awards contacts will be notified of the outcome via email in early June. 

  • 6. Judging day

    Finalists will be invited to present to a judging panel at Te Kawa Mataaho | Public Service Commission in Wellington approximately 4-6 weeks before the awards event. This includes a 10-minute presentation and Q&A session.

  • 7. Awards night

    Winners are announced at the Awards event in Wellington. 

Information session

We have recorded our information session on Te Hāpai Hapori | Spirit of Service Awards. Watch this short video for background and tips.

Transcript

Kia ora, my name is Emma Smart and thank you for taking the time to listen to this short presentation about Te Hāpai Hapori | Spirit of Service Awards. Hopefully this video gives you all the information you need to understand these awards and to prepare to enter them. Spirit of Service is identified in the Public Service Act 2020 as the fundamental characteristic of the public service. The Act requires public service leaders to preserve, protect and nurture the spirit of service to the community that all public servants bring to their work. Recognition is really important and it's a powerful way to show people that their work is valued. These awards are all about showcasing excellence and helping to motivate others to deliver better for New Zealand. 

In this little presentation, I'm going to cover off what the awards are and what the categories are that you can enter. We'll look at which agencies are eligible to enter the awards, then things to think about when you are preparing your entries, and finally, I'll talk a bit about what to expect if you are selected as a finalist. 

First up, a little bit about the awards. These photos are a snapshot of the event which is a very special evening. These awards evolved from the IPANZ Public Sector Excellence Awards in 2019 and they became Te Hāpai Hapori | Spirit of Service Awards. They have been run and administered by Te Kawa Mataaho | Public Service Commission since then. 

So, let's take a look at the different categories you can enter. First up are the awards for initiatives. These are listed here and the names for each award give you a pretty good indication of what the award is for. All the criteria are listed on our website for more specific detail of each award. There is just one entry form for the initiatives, so when you're entering, you just select the category you think is the best fit. Te Tohu a Te Pirimia, the Prime Minister's Award, is selected from these initiatives as the overall winner each year. You can't enter for this award, I'm afraid. There are also three awards for individuals. Young Leader is celebrating outstanding public servants aged 35 or under. The Lifetime Achievement Award celebrates someone who has made an exceptional contribution to New Zealand or their community over their career in the public sector, and a new award for 2025 celebrates a public sector director who shows an outstanding commitment to public sector governance and leadership as a director. Again, for specific criteria for each award, see our website. 

Looking at eligibility, you can see from the list of agencies here that there is broad eligibility for these awards across the public sector. Many of the entries are cross-agency collaborations, including public/private sector collaboration. One of our previous award winners was a collaboration between 17 different agencies and we needed to factor in extra time on the run sheet that night just to read out the list of all the agencies. Equally successful and impactful are some of the smaller, single agency or community-led initiatives. So don't be put off if you think a programme or initiative isn't big enough. 

These are the key dates to be aware of throughout the year if you are preparing to enter these awards. Firstly, early in the year as preparation time. Agencies all have different ways of pulling together entries. It might be led by your internal comms team, by the chief executive's office or the senior leadership team. At the end of the day, any entry needs to be endorsed by the chief executive, so it's really important to get their backing early on. We highly recommend you get in touch with us to talk your ideas through. We can give you advice on how to focus your entry, whether it's the right time to enter or potentially too early in the piece, which category to consider, et cetera. The deadline for entries in 2025 is Friday the 23rd of May. The co-chairs of the judging panels will shortlist the finalists soon after this date, and in early June we notified chief executives and agency contacts of the outcomes. Judging is planned for the last week of July. Finally, the event will be held in Wellington on the evening of Thursday the 4th of September. 

Let's move to how to enter. You will find all of the entry forms on the Spirit of Service Awards page on our website and a step by step guide on the process that looks like what you can see on the slide here. Once you download the correct entry form, it will look something like…  

this. This shows you what to expect on the entry form. Pictured here is the form for Young Leader of the Year award. All of the entry forms look quite similar. The nominator is the key person we would be liaising with about the entry. The three main questions you'll need to answer are shown here and are basically the same across all forms, regardless of whether it's an initiative or an individual. Why should this initiative or person be chosen for the award? How does the entry exemplify the criteria? How does the entry exemplify a spirit of service? It can be an idea to involve your comms team at this stage, who can probably tell the story of your entry the best. Finally, the chief executive or board chair needs to endorse the entry. For cross agency initiatives, that means all chief executives involved. This can be just an e-mail endorsement or a signature on the form, whichever is easiest for you. 

A little bit about the judging presentations. We notify all outcomes in early June. Finalists are then asked to prepare to present to a judging panel. This photo gives you a sense of what the setup looks like for judging. The judging panels meet at the end of July, early August. The judging presentations are held at Te Kawa Mataaho | Public Service Commission in Wellington. Each group comes in for approximately an hour, which includes time to test out any slides, a short Mihi Whakatau, a 10 minute presentation which is filmed, and a 15 minute Q&A with the judging panel which is not filmed. The filmed section is used in any winner’s videos for the night. Something to consider if one of your entries is chosen as a finalist is picking the best people to be in the room who can tell the story of this entry best. If it's a cross-agency collaboration, consider who would represent each part of the entry best. Individual finalists should consider who they would like to bring to support them during the presentation. Their support people have an opportunity to speak during the Q&A, which can provide helpful additional perspective about the individual and their impact. 

These are some examples of finalists and winners from previous years. This shows the breadth of types of entries from large complex multi-agency initiatives including private sector collaboration to smaller, single agency initiatives. Regardless of the size of the programme or initiative, the important thing is to tell the story of the impact it is having, what it is achieving and how it is delivering for New Zealand or New Zealanders. 

Thank you for listening in and hopefully this gives you some ideas about how you might consider recognising the incredible work that public servants do day in, day out and how we showcase excellence across the public sector. My main piece of advice is if you have any questions at all, please get in touch with us and we are happy to help. Kia ora. 

Ngā pae kaiwhakawā Judging panels

  • Nga Hoa-Toihau | Co-chairs

    Rebecca Kitteridge

    Te Pou Turuki mō Te Kawa Mataaho | Deputy Public Service Commissioner Te Kawa Mataaho | Public Service Commission

    Rebecca is Deputy Public Service Commissioner, working closely with the Public Service Commissioner to provide leadership and oversight of the Public Service. She was previously Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and Director-General of Security and Chief Executive, New Zealand Security Intelligence Service. 

    Thor Gudjonsson

    Tumu Whakarae Tuarua, Ratonga Whakamana | Deputy Chief Executive Enabling Services 
    Te Kawa Mataaho | Public Service Commission 

    Thor is Deputy Chief Executive of the Enabling Services group. He was previously the Deputy Commissioner System and Agency Performance, a role that gave him unique oversight of the performance of the Public Service. He has also held a number of Chief Financial Officer roles including the Ministry of Justice and Ministry for Primary Industries.

     

  • Pou Tikanga | Cultural advisor

    Rauru Kirikiri

    Te Whānau ā Apanui
    Kaihautū mō Te Kawa Mataaho | Kaihautū to the Public Service Commissioner
    Te Kawa Mataaho | Public Service Commission

    Rauru has a notable background serving iwi, Māori, and New Zealand through his many roles in academia, consultancy, and the Public Service. He specialises in a range of Māori related issues including environmental management, strategic planning, Treaty of Waitangi claims negotiations, policy development, and tertiary education.  

  • Te Tohu mō ngā Hua e Pai Ake Ana | Better Outcomes Award & Te Tohu mō te Hiranga o te Mahi Kaupapa Here | Excellence in Public Policy Award

    Janine Smith

    Deputy Chief Executive, Policy
    Te Tari o te Pirimia me te Komiti Matua | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

    Janine has extensive experience in environmental policy and partnerships across the public sector. As a member of the DPMC Policy Profession Board, she plays an important role in leading, managing and stewarding policy. She was previously Deputy Secretary, Natural and Built System and Climate Mitigation at Manatū mō te Taiao | Ministry for the Environment.

    Warren Fraser

    Ngati Raukawa ki te Tonga
    Deputy Chief Executive – Policy, Legal and Corporate
    Office of Treaty Settlements and Takutai Moana: Te Tari Whakatau

    Warren leads policy, legal, corporate and technical services at Te Tari Whakatau that support the Crown’s efforts to restore Māori Crown relationships and recognise Māori rights and interests through its Treaty settlement and Takutai Moana mahi.  His 18 years as an international lawyer and diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade included postings to Ottawa, Brussels and Canberra. A career public servant Warren has also had leadership roles in capital markets policy, Courts policy, and justice services.

     

  • Te Tohu Auaha Hou | Innovation Award & Te Tohu mō Whai Ratonga | Māori Crown Award

    Aphra Green

    Deputy Chief Executive, Policy, Data and Insights
    Social Investment Agency | Toi Hau Tāngata

    Aphra leads the Policy, Data and Insights Group at the Social Investment Agency. She has a wealth of experience from the social and justice sectors, particularly from her leadership roles at Oranga Tamariki and the Ministry of Justice. She was awarded the Harkness Fellowship in 2015 and holds a Master of Laws.




    Glenn Webber

    Kahungunu, Rongomaiwahine
    Interim Deputy Director-General, Māori Partnerships and Investment
    Ministry for Primary Industries | Manatū Ahu Matua

    Glenn has over 25 years’ public service experience, with a focus on Māori development and improving the Māori Crown relationship, including as a Chief Crown Negotiator working with iwi to develop and agree Treaty settlements that address historical grievances.  Glenn’s previous roles include Acting Tumu Whakarae, Chief Executive of Te Arawhiti | Office of Māori Crown Relations, Director of Local Government in the Department of Internal Affairs and time at the Australian Departments of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, and Resources, Energy and Tourism in Canberra.

  • Te Tohu mō te Kaiārahi Rangatahi o te Tau | Young Leader of the Year

    Renee Conway

    Workstream Lead – Complex and Significant Projects
    Kāinga Ora | Homes and Communities

    Renee is a resilient and compassionate young leader who has overcome many obstacles to be where she is today. She leads with strength and community spirit. She is always seeking opportunities to improve the services Oranga Tamariki provides with humility, care and an enormous depth of understanding. In 2024, Renee was a finalist for Te Tohu mō te Kaiārahi Rangatahi o te Tau | Young Leader of the Year.

    Charlotte Veikune

    Social Work Supervisor
    Oranga Tamariki | Ministry for Children 

    Charlotte is a talented and dedicated young leader who leads with a steely focus on delivering better outcomes for the people Kāinga Ora serves. In her current role, Charlotte demonstrates an unwavering commitment to delivering high-quality social housing solutions for New Zealanders. In 2024, Charlotte was a finalist for Te Tohu mō te Kaiārahi Rangatahi o te Tau | Young Leader of the Year

    Tayla Yandall

    General Manager of Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility
    Te Ara Poutama Aotearoa | Department of Corrections

    Tayla is a strong, intelligent and empathetic young leader. She started at the Department of Corrections in 2013 and has served in numerous leadership roles since then. She always strives to provide a supportive environment and better pathways for both staff and the people that Corrections supports. In 2024, Tayla’s exceptional leadership saw her awarded Te Tohu mō te Kaiārahi Rangatahi o te Tau | Young Leader of the Year Award. 

     

  • Te Tohu Rāngai Tūmatanui mō te Tumuaki o Te Tau | Public Sector Director of the Year Award

    Kirsten (KP) Patterson MNZM

    Chief Executive
    Institute of Directors

    Kirsten Patterson MNZM (known as KP) is Chief Executive of the Institute of Directors New Zealand and a Chartered Member of the Institute. A qualified lawyer and Distinguished Fellow of the Human Resources Institute of New Zealand, she also chairs the Global Network of Directors Institutes and serves on the External Reporting Advisory Panel. KP is a founding member of initiatives including Champions for Change and Women in Sport Aotearoa, reflecting her strong advocacy for diversity, inclusion, and ethical leadership.

    Kevin Jenkins

    Chair
    Iti Kōpara | Public Governance Aotearoa

    Kevin Jenkins is Chair of Iti Kōpara | Public Governance Aotearoa and a respected leader in governance across the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors. With over 30 years of experience and current roles with NZQA, the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, WorkSafe, Harrison Grierson, Accessible Properties NZ and the Building Research Associations of NZ, he brings deep expertise in business, innovation, and regulation. A Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors, Kevin is known for his strategic leadership and commitment to strengthening governance in Aotearoa.

Ngā kaitautoko Our sponsors

Ngā mihi ki ngā kaitautoko. Thank you to our sponsors.  

Whakapā mai Contact

We are available to assist with any queries you have regarding public service awards and recognition. We engage with key contacts at each government agency throughout the year about the awards programme. 

Email us

Spirit of Service Awards 2019-2024

Since 2019, Te Hāpai Hapori | Spirit of Service Awards has been recognising public servants who go the extra mile and initiatives that deliver great outcomes for New Zealand. Read more about the previous winners, finalists and judges.

Previous awards