Bay's heroes bag NZ awards

Wade Kelly receiving his New Zealand Pride Award from Sir Peter Leitch last night. Photo / Jason Dorday

The country's top unsung heroes have been named winners of the Pride of New Zealand Awards - and two of them are from Hawke's Bay.

Seven people from around New Zealand received the gongs - honouring bravery and heroism, community spirit, lifetime achievement, environmental ambassadorship, emergency services and fundraiser of the year - at a glitzy event at the Auckland War Memorial Museum last night.

Wade Kelly, of Hastings, was the national winner of the Bravery/Heroism Award for saving four people at Waimarama Beach last year.

Mr Kelly paddled out into choppy surf on his longboard when Anton Randell and his wife Kirsty, 10-year-old son Josh, and Josh's friend Jaimie Nichols, 12, were caught in a rip, and kept a cool head throughout their 45-minute rescue.

Mr Randell, who nominated the surfer for the award, told Hawke's Bay Today Mr Kelly was "well-justified" in winning it.

"We just wanted to recognise him for what he did. I'm very grateful. He's made a huge difference in our lives - he's a really important part of our family."

Also from the region is Mahia environmentalist Kathleen Mato, who was recognised as the overall winner of the Environmental Award for her work during the past four years in protecting and improving the water quality in the Whangawehi catchment area.

The Whangawehi Catchment Management Group was sparked up in 2010 in Mahia as local concerns about wastewater ponds polluting the mouth of the Whangawehi River grew. Ms Mato started the group off her own bat and it is now a unified body of stakeholders including marae, agencies and school representatives, working together to better manage land and water in the catchment and also co-ordinate environmental work and education in the community.

National finalists in the awards from Hawke's Bay were the Swannell Family (Community Spirit Award), of Napier, for running a mobile soup kitchen for the homeless in Clive Square, Hai Tong Too (Lifetime Achievement), Napier, for being a key advocate for minority groups, and Colin Anderson (Fundraiser of the Year), Palmerston North and formerly Dannevirke, who raised over $17,000 cycling for CanTeen.

The other winners announced at last night's ceremony were Maera Maki-Anderson, Murupara, honoured with the emergency services award for her work as a volunteer firefighter and Auckland firefighter Tony "Scottie" Scott, who got the fundraiser of the year award for his ongoing fundraising efforts for the Fire Service. Tihi Puanaki received the lifetime achievement accolade for her 40-year work in promoting kapa haka, and the community spirit award was given to Julie King, who runs the Tokoroa Love Soup. The People's Choice Award, sponsored by TSB Bank, went to Upper North Island regional finalist Greg Brownson. The 63-year-old, of Auckland, has been a crew member of the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Trust for more than 30 years.

More than 10,000 votes were received for the People's Choice Award via the website, and judges said Mr Brownson won by a huge margin.

At the ceremony last night, Kiwi muso Dave Dobbyn welcomed guests with a stirring rendition of his hit Welcome Home as they settled in for the start of the show.

He later performed Beside You and Slice of Heaven, as guests clapped and sang along.

Celebrity judges Mad Butcher Sir Peter Leitch, former news anchor Judy Bailey, Silver Fern Maria Tutaia and radio host Polly Gillespie presented a number of awards and judge VC holder Willie Apiata gave a video greeting. The awards, in association with the New Zealand Herald, APN Holdings, TSB Bank and The Hits radio station, were announced last year during the newspaper's 150th birthday celebrations.