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The New Zealand Recreation Association has released details of its 2018 Recreation Award winners, honouring the people who are integral to making New Zealand a world leader in recreation.

Representing the quality recreation opportunities delivered by the industry, the NZRA Recreation Awards reflect the NZRA’s belief that people who are healthy and well connected to their communities and the environment grow up with the opportunity to pursue their dreams and make lasting contributions to society.

Among the Awards, the winner of Outstanding Event 2018 was the Anchor AIMS Games. Tauranga City Council worked in partnership with the AIMS Games Trust and Sport Bay of Plenty to bring the largest international sporting event for 11 to 13 year olds in the southern hemisphere to Tauranga.

The YMCA North Shore Recreation Centre were awarded Outstanding Facility 2018. Established in 1973 as a recreation centre, the facility now services the needs of kids, families and the local community with a 40 x 30m indoor stadium, two basketball courts, a fully equipped and serviced fitness centre, group exercise studio, community rooms, squash courts and a physiotherapy centre specialising in knee rehabilitation.

Outstanding Park 2018 was a hotly contested category, with the judges awarding a merit to Mauao Historic Reserve - the most popular natural fitness and leisure park visited in the Bay of Plenty. The winner in this category was Anderson Park Playground - Napier City Council with Boffa Miskell

Centrally located within one of Napier’s premier suburban parks, this destination park for all ages and abilities comprises structures for climbing and sliding, flying foxes, swings, water play, functional artwork with messages in braille and interactive elements, including a xylophone, musical bridge and drums.

The winner of Outstanding Pool 2018 was Huntly Aquatic Centre, managed by Belgravia Leisure. A relatively small pool, 8% of the whole community is enrolled in their learn-to-swim programme.

The award for Outstanding Community Recreation Programme 2018 went to the Citycare Group for their Connect the Community initiative. This was a partnership set up with the Student Volunteer Army after the Christchurch earthquakes to help with clean ups, planting and mulching and it has developed into an active volunteer support and engagement approach. The judges awarded a merit in this category to Hutt City Council for their Kiwisport Fundamental Movement Skills programme.

Outstanding Project 2018 went to Tauranga City Council for Kopurererua Valley. Tauranga’s huge 364 hectare inner-city park development project has seen a previously toxic, overgrown, weedy valley turned into an outstanding natural environment. This has been achieved in partnership with tangata whenua in an urban setting alongside cultural, community, historical and recreational values. The merit in this category was awarded to Tairāwhiti Connext Charitable Trust for their Bikes in Schools initiative.

There were two merits given for Outstanding Research, Planning and Policy 2018; for the Scott Point Sustainable Sports Park Masterplan and the MacLean Park Refresh: Community Engagement Project.

The winner was Auckland Council for Low Carbon Parks: Developing a Carbon Inventory for a Sports Park. This was a piece of research undertaken in-house by Auckland Council, considering what impact parks can play in tackling climate change, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and raising public awareness.

Mark Hammond of Kāpiti Coast District Council was named Emerging Recreation Leader for 2018. Mark has been working in the recreation sector for the past five years at a local government level and demonstrates exceptional leadership qualities in the work he carries out.

The Paul Stuart Memorial Award was given to Mark Blake.

In Blake’s nomination, his colleague wrote "those of us who have had the opportunity to work directly for Mark understand the impact, passion and energy he brings to the job. On the outside Mark may appear driven by achieving great financial results but even a cursory look will show the impact he has in driving dozens of community-based programs that ensure our society is a better place to live."

Jane Aickin was the recipient of the Ian Galloway Memorial Cup. Aicken’s 27-year career in the parks sector has involved working for multiple organisations in multiple roles. She has led significant achievements in Auckland’s parks and played an active role in many industry-related organisations. Jane has contributed much to the industry at Governance and voluntary levels and is a generous mentor of her time and knowledge to colleagues and young people in the sector in general.

The NZRA Recreation Awards were presented at an awards dinner held in Auckland during NZRA's 2018 Recreation Conference.

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