2018 EMPA New Zealand award winners
EMPA New Zealand Awards for Excellence in Communication
The Annual EMPA Awards for Excellence in Emergency Communication have been established to recognise those who have made a significant contribution to emergency communications in Australia and New Zealand.
2018 saw the New Zealand EMPA Awards for Excellence in Emergency Communications presented at the EMPA NZ Conference Dinner in Wellington on Monday, 20 August 2018.
Excellence in Resilience and Readiness
Joint Winner
Bay of Plenty CDEM Group
‘Youth Jam’ – engaging youth in emergency preparedness.
Karl Ferguson, EMPA Committee, and Sam Rossiter-Stead, Bay of Plenty CDEM
Craig Sinclair, Emergency Management Southland
Highly Commended
Project AF8
Project AF8 received a commendation for its video series raising awareness of the hazards posed by the Alpine Fault and launched the consultation on the draft SAFER Framework, which will guide the coordinated response to a magnitude 8 rupture along the length of the South Island.
George Dawes and Jon Mitchell from Project AF8 with Karl Ferguson
Joint Winner
Emergency Management Southland
‘More than Just a Plan, Stan’ – turning community response planning on its head by putting the community at the centre of each plan, rather than imposing a top-down approach.
Excellence in Response and Recovery
Joint Winner
Kaikoura District Council
Kaikoura District Council for its communication and engagement efforts during the long-running recovery effort for New Zealand’s second-smallest district after the Kaikoura earthquake.
Libby Clifford from Kaikoura District Council with Glynn Walters
Joint Winner
North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery Alliance
North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery Alliance (NCTIR) for their project ‘Moving Mountains’ – recognising the huge communication and community engagement effort undertaken during the restoration of road access to Kaikoura after the 2016 earthquake.
Mike Seabourne from NCTIRA with Glynn Walters
Excellence in Emergency Media
Winner
Jamie Morton, NZ Herald
Jamie Morton from the New Zealand Herald, for an extended piece of print and online writing on the Hikurangi Subduction Zone entitled ‘Our Sleeping Taniwha.’
Karl Ferguson and Victoria Walker accepting on behalf of Jamie Morton, with Lee Cowan
Excellence in Research
Winner
Sally Potter, GNS Science
Sally led a research project using an evidence-based approach to writing short messages for the New Zealand public. It included reviewing international research on how short warnings influence behaviour, and then tested the findings in New Zealand. Her research into short messages is now being implemented by MCDEM in the new emergency mobile alerting system, to provide effective warnings of life-threatening emergencies.
Lee Cowan with Sally Porter