"You always think there's someone out there who does something more than what you did," he said.
"My mum and dad are quite elderly and for them they are just over the moon but at the same time they are also thinking 'you better not do that again'."
Mr O'Connor said he's received a lot more recognition from people asking "are you that guy who jumped off the bridge?".
Ms Schneider said her award was especially touching because Kiwibank was the only bank to stand by her when no others would when she set up the Holistic Vets business 10 years ago.
"We've recently won some business awards ... but this community award really brings tears to my eyes."
"It's really an awesome honour and it's humbled me tremendously. It's very cool."
Mr Owen said he thought the letter telling him he had won a Local Heroes award must have been a scam at first. The Katikati Lions member could not work out why he would have won such a thing, he said.
Mr Owen, who is semi-retired, said he did not think he was a worthy recipient.
"There's a lot more people in the community who have done a lot more than I have - for example, a fellow Lion who is 90-years-old and still going. I'm just a pipsqueak compared to him."
Mr Owen is well known in Katikati for his tireless community activity.
"I still drive a school bus and I'm still active, and I want to stay active and I don't intend to sit down and watch the world go by," he said.
Kiwibank chief executive Paul Brock said New Zealand had a longstanding tradition of community service.
"It's therefore equally important that we have a tradition, like the Local Heroes awards, where we can give our thanks to those who have improved the lives of others."
New Zealander of the Year and Local Heroes Awards office manager Glyn Taylor said it was not necessarily high-profile people who won the awards.
Mr Greaves could not be reached yesterday.