Hastings in running to become NZ's 'most beautiful small city'
Hastings may have won 'Most Beautiful Large Town' as well as the Supreme Award in last year's Beautiful Awards, but a change in judging criteria has now meant it is in contention to become the country's 'Most Beautiful Small City'.
Keep New Zealand Beautiful have announced the finalists of their Beautiful Awards 2021, including New Zealand’s Most Beautiful Towns and Most Beautiful Cities.
The Beautiful Awards are New Zealand’s longest-running sustainability awards and provide a benchmark for environmental excellence. Run annually since 1972, the Awards inspire, recognise and acknowledge those individuals, schools, community groups, towns and cities working passionately to Keep New Zealand Beautiful.
This year, the Most Beautiful Towns & Cities awards have been aligned with the urban area classifications used by Statistics New Zealand for statistical purposes: Most Beautiful Small Town (small urban area with 1,000 – 9,999 residents), Most Beautiful Large Town (medium urban area with 10,000 – 29,999 residents), Most Beautiful Small City (large urban area 30,000 – 99,999 residents) and Most Beautiful Large City (major urban area with 100,000 or more residents).
For Hastings, it will be a battle of east versus west, with the city going head to head against last year's winner, Whanganui.
Hastings was selected as a finalist for its waste and litter prevention campaign which introduced two mascots – Luke the Litter Legend and Colin the Cheeky Chucker, creating a fun and engaging way for children to learn about litter. Hastings has also established an eco-committee, initiated a New Zealand first analysis into the trees in their parks and reserves and has a continued focus on sustainable tourism and community beautification.
On the other hand, this is the third year in a row Whanganui has been selected as a finalist for their ongoing initiatives in community beautification.
This includes the restoration of heritage buildings and tree plantings, litter and waste minimisation initiatives, funding a composting service to remove organic waste from local schools participating in the Healthy Schools Lunch Programme as well as sustainable tourism projects and their development of a Climate Change Strategy.
Taupō and Whakatāne will compete this year for the title of Most Beautiful Large Town, while Foxton and Kaitāia will go head to head for Most Beautiful Small Town. Finalists in the Most Beautiful Large City category are Dunedin and Wellington.
Keep New Zealand Beautiful CEO Heather Saunderson says the Beautiful Awards Towns & Cities category recognises and rewards local governments who have illustrated ambitious goals for environmental improvement over the past 12 months.
"This year we’ve been impressed with the commitment and innovation that councils have shown across beautification and waste minimisation initiatives, as well as the way in which they’ve tackled many of today’s environmental issues through their climate change strategies.
"Through the awards we’re able to celebrate these efforts as well as those made by community groups, schools and individuals who are striving to improve New Zealand’s environment and thereby the quality of life in our rural communities, towns and cities.”
The two finalists in each of the four awards in the Towns & Cities category demonstrated in their submissions the sustainable and environmentally conscious action taken by council in the past 12 months across the following key areas: Litter Prevention and Waste Minimisation, Community Beautification, Recycling Projects, Sustainable Tourism and Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions.
This year there will also be a Supreme Award for the Most Beautiful Towns & Cities category. The winner of the Supreme Award, which is proudly sponsored by Resene, will win a mural painted in their town or city by a local artist, valued at up to $10,000.
