Most New Zealand businesses treat awards the same way they treat their LinkedIn profile: something they know they should probably update, but never quite get around to. And when they do enter, it's usually a last-minute scramble the night before entries close, with a submission that reads like a cut-and-paste from their About page.
That's a shame, because awards are one of the most underused tools in the PR toolkit, and one of the easiest to turn into real media coverage. A single award entry, done well, can generate three or four separate media moments: the entry itself, the shortlist announcement, the win, and the follow-up story a journalist writes off the back of it. At Payper, we've built entire quarters of media activity around a well-timed awards strategy, layering it alongside press releases and proactive pitching to keep a client in the news consistently.
The key is knowing which awards are worth your time, how to write an entry that stands out, and how to turn the result, win or lose, into coverage.
Why do awards generate media coverage in the first place?
Journalists are busy, and most pitches require them to do a lot of work: verify claims, find a fresh angle, track down someone to interview. Awards do much of that heavy lifting for them. When a business wins or is shortlisted for a credible award, the story comes pre-validated by an independent panel of judges, which makes a journalist's job significantly easier. That's why awards coverage tends to land at rates that would make a standard press release jealous.
A well-pitched award story, particularly one tied to a local or industry angle, almost always generates at least one piece of coverage. And there's a secondary benefit most businesses overlook... the process of writing a strong submission forces you to articulate what makes your business different, distil your story into something compelling, and gather the data and testimonials that prove your claims. All of that material feeds directly back into your press releases, your media pitches, and even your sales conversations.
Which New Zealand awards actually matter?
Not all awards are created equal. Some generate significant media coverage and genuine credibility, while others are little more than a badge for your website. The distinction usually comes down to who runs the award, how competitive the field is, and whether journalists pay attention to the results. Here are the programmes worth knowing about.
National awards with strong media coverage:
The Deloitte Top 200 Awards are the gold standard for established businesses, consistently generating coverage across the New Zealand Herald, NBR, and the major business outlets. If you're a company of meaningful scale, this is the one to aim for.
The EY Entrepreneur of the Year programme is one of the most recognised business awards globally, and the New Zealand edition has strong media traction. It's particularly valuable for founder-led businesses because the personal story angle gives journalists something to write about beyond revenue figures.
The Sustainable Business Awards have become increasingly prominent as sustainability has moved from nice-to-have to business-critical. Finalists make the annual "Next" list, which gets solid coverage in trade and mainstream media.
The NZ International Business Awards (NZIBA), run by NZTE, celebrate companies succeeding offshore. If you're exporting or expanding internationally, this is a credible, well-covered programme.
The NZ Hi-Tech Awards are the marquee event for the technology sector. If you're in tech, SaaS, or deep tech, this one matters.
Regional awards worth entering:
The Westpac Champion Business Awards (Canterbury) and the 2degrees Auckland Business Awards are standout regional programmes. They generate strong local media coverage, which is valuable in its own right, as regional audiences tend to be more engaged than readers scrolling past a passing mention in a national outlet.
Industry-specific awards:
These vary by sector, but don't overlook them. Trade media coverage from an industry award can be more valuable than a brief mention in the Herald, because the audience reading it is exactly the audience you're trying to reach.
How do you choose the right awards for your business?
The temptation is to enter everything, but that's a fast way to burn time and money on applications that go nowhere. A more effective approach is to be selective and strategic. At Payper, we usually recommend clients enter two to four awards per year, spacing them so the announcements don't cluster together. That gives you a steady stream of potential media moments rather than a single spike.
Start by asking three questions. Does this award align with what we're actually good at? If you're a sustainability-focused business entering a pure technology award, you're fighting uphill. Is the field competitive enough to mean something, but not so competitive that you'll be lost in the noise? Regional awards often hit that sweet spot. And will winning or being shortlisted generate coverage? Check whether past winners were covered by outlets your audience reads.
Writing an entry that actually wins
Most award entries lose because they read like corporate brochures, full of vague claims, internally-focused language, and accomplishments that sound impressive inside the business but don't land with an external panel.
The entries that win tend to share a few characteristics. They tell a specific story rather than listing achievements. They quantify impact with real numbers: revenue growth, jobs created, customers served, emissions reduced. They explain what was difficult about what they accomplished, because judges want to see the challenge as much as the result. And they're written in plain, engaging language rather than marketing-speak.
If you've been working with a PR agency, this should feel familiar. A good award entry uses the same principles as a good press release: lead with the most compelling fact, tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end, and make it easy for someone who knows nothing about your business to understand why what you've done matters.
One practical tip: write the entry as if you're explaining the business to someone at a barbecue, not presenting to your board. If your submission includes the phrase "leveraging our core competencies," start again.
How do you turn an award into media coverage?
This is where most businesses leave value on the table. They win, post about it on LinkedIn, and move on. With a bit of planning, a single award can drive coverage across several weeks.
Before the announcement, prepare a short press release and a media list of journalists who cover your industry or region. If you're shortlisted, pitch that as a story in its own right, particularly to local media. When results are announced, send the release within hours, not days, with a quote from the founder that says something specific about what the award means rather than the standard "we're thrilled and humbled."
After the win, look for follow-up angles. Can you pitch a feature story about the journey behind the business? Is there a data point from your entry that would work as a standalone pitch? Can you offer your founder as a commentator on the broader industry trend the award highlights? We wrote more about making coverage work harder after it lands, and much of that thinking applies here too.
When we work with clients at Payper on awards strategy, we often find that the follow-up coverage is more valuable than the initial announcement. The award gives you credibility, but the feature story gives you depth, and depth is what builds the kind of long-term media presence that actually moves the needle.
Companies like Evnex, whose EV charging story plays naturally into sustainability and innovation awards, or Vessev, whose electric hydrofoil ferries have a clear innovation angle, are exactly the kind of businesses that benefit from a deliberate awards strategy. The story is already strong; awards just give journalists another reason to write about it.
The three mistakes that cost businesses the most
First, entering too late. Most award programmes have entry deadlines months before the ceremony, and by the time you hear about one, you've often missed it. Build an awards calendar at the start of each year so deadlines don't sneak up on you.
Second, treating the entry as a formality. If you're going to enter, commit to it properly. A rushed entry wastes the application fee and, more importantly, wastes a slot that could have been a genuine media opportunity.
Third, not telling anyone. If you're shortlisted or you win, put the word out. Sitting on good news doesn't serve anyone, and the businesses that benefit most from awards are the ones that treat them as part of a broader media strategy, not as standalone trophies.
Payper is a results-based PR agency in New Zealand where clients only pay when coverage lands. If you're thinking about how awards could fit into your wider PR strategy, or you've got a story that deserves more attention, get in touch here and we'll give you a straight answer.