Te Hāpai Hapori Spirit of Service Awards

Kia ora! Thank you for watching this short presentation.

My name is Emma Smart and I’m going to give you an overview of Te Hāpai Hapori | Spirit of Service Awards and help you prepare to enter these awards.

These awards celebrate excellence in the public sector, and they recognise initiatives and individuals who deliver outstanding results for New Zealand and New Zealanders.

Why do these awards matter?

Recognition is powerful – it shows people their work is valued, it motivates engagement, and it sets a clear benchmark for excellence.

Acting with a spirit of service to the community is a fundamental characteristic of the Public Service

First up, a bit about these awards.

In 2018, the Public Service Leadership Team established the Spirit of Service Awards as a showcase event to value and recognise people and their work, to motivate public sector engagement and to set a clear benchmark for excellence.

The Public Service Commission administers these awards on behalf of the Public Service Leadership Team.

The event itself is a special evening celebrating collaboration and impact.

These photos are a snapshot of the event from 2024.  

This list shows you which types of agencies are eligible to enter these awards.

It’s much broader than just the core Public Service. Central government departments include public service departments, departmental agencies and non-public service departments, like New Zealand Police and New Zealand Defence Force.

Crown entities are all Crown agents, Autonomous Crown Entities and Independent Crown Entities, but it doesn’t include Crown entity subsidiaries and Boards of Trustees.

If you’re unsure whether your agency is eligible, please get in touch.

Many entries are cross-agency collaborations and might include public sector or private sector collaboration.

Category winners in the past have ranged from a cross-agency collaboration with 17 partner agencies, to a small, single agency, community-led initiative. So don’t be put off if you think your initiative is too big or too small to enter.

There are four categories for initiatives, which are listed at the top here.

The names of each award give you a good indication of what the award is for. The criteria for each award are listed on our website, if you want more detail.

Te Tohu a Te Pirimia | The Prime Minister’s Award is selected from these initiatives as the overall winner each year so you can’t specifically enter for that award.

The three categories below are for individuals, listed here. Again, their names explain what they are for, and the specific details and criteria for each award are listed on our website under each award title.

These are the key dates you need to be aware of throughout the year when you are preparing entries for these awards.

Firstly, early in the year is preparation time. Agencies all have different ways of pulling together entries.

Some agencies get the comms team to support this process, (which we recommend) some are led by the chief executive’s office or the senior leadership team.  

At the end of the day, entries need to be endorsed by the chief executive, so it's really important to get their backing early on.

We highly recommend getting in touch with us to talk through your ideas.

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, tips for your presentation etc.

The specific deadlines for each year are published on our website, but this timeline gives you an indication of the approximate dates.

The co-chairs of the judging panels will shortlist the finalists soon after the entry deadline, and in June we notify chief executives and agency contacts of the outcomes.

Judging is usually held in July. And finally, the awards event is held in Wellington between late August and early October.

Now let's look at how to enter.

All the links to entry forms are on our website and it looks like what you see here.

The first link is for all the initiative categories, and the other three links are entry forms for the individual categories.

There is also guidance on the website to step you through the process, that looks like what you see here.

A few tips and tricks for entering.

This is what you’ll find on the entry form for initiatives.

It is very similar for the individual awards. Under ‘Entry Details’, make sure that you have selected the category that you think best fits your initiative and if you’re not sure, please get in touch with us.

The name of the initiative that you provide here will be the name that is published if your entry is selected as a finalist.

For cross agency collaborations, please list the lead agency or agencies, and then all other agencies involved.

If you are unsure whether to include an agency as a collaborator, consider the following questions:

• - Was the agency integral to the success of the work?
• - Would that agency and its chief executive be wanting to champion this work?

In this case, list the agency, and you will also need to seek endorsement from the chief executive or board chair for the entry.

This might include NGOs or private sector organisations.

This endorsement can be as simple as a one-line email from the CE or board chair saying they endorse the entry.

The contact person is the key person we would expect to liaise with if the entry is selected as a finalist.

They may be someone who led the project, or they may be a key awards contact at your agency.

On the right are the three questions you will need to answer about the initiative.

Question 1 is where you tell the ‘story’ that will convince the judging co-chairs to select your entry as a finalist.

This will also provide a good framework for your presentation, if your entry is selected as a finalist.

Use the category criteria to guide your answer to question 2 and use the definition of spirit of service to guide your answer for question 3.

So, what should you expect if your entry is selected as a finalist?

The judging co-chairs consider all the entries soon after the entry deadline and they shortlist three finalists for each category.

We notify chief executives and awards contacts of the outcomes soon after that.

Finalists are invited to present to a judging panel approximately one month later.

The judging presentations are held at Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission in Wellington in July.

Each finalist presentation takes approximately one hour, and it includes a short mihi whakatau, a ten-minute presentation which is filmed, and a 15-minute Q & A with the judges, which is not filmed.

The filmed presentation is the basis of the winner’s story being told at the Awards night.

We recommend using high quality visuals (images and video) in your presentation to support telling your story. 

This photo shows the judging presentation set up with the judging panel seated at the table in the foreground.

Video or PowerPoint presentations are projected to the screen at the left of this image.

For Young Leader of the Year and Public Sector Director of the Year, finalists are invited to bring support people with them.

They will often be able to provide additional insight and perspective for the judges, about the individual and the impact of their leadership.

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 through 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 can recognise the incredible work that people in your agency do day in, day out and how we showcase excellence across the public sector.

My final tip if you are submitting an entry: focus your entry on the impact the initiative or individual is having on New Zealanders and if you have any questions, get in touch.

We are here to help.

Kia ora.