2015 FINALISTS...

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EMERGING GOLD - PRODUCTS in association with GROW WELLINGTON
fewer than 10 full time employees

• Matrix Homes   
Building homes in a hurry (12 days) but not in a hurried way, Matrix thinks we pay too much for housing and is setting out to prove it
• Panhead Custom Ales  
Artfully brewing beer to suite all tastes, 
Panhead also caters to the crafty end of the market with limited releases and custom brews winning big awards and bigger customers.
• Wellington Chocolate Factory  
Organic ethically traded beans are cracked, winnowed, conched and tempered right here in the heart of Wellington on the way to becoming chocolate that doesn’t sit on the shelves for long.  
• Wipster  
Making video production easier by allowing feedback every step of that way with a custom-built package that gives access to everyone wanting a say in how things are going.
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EMERGING GOLD - SERVICES
fewer than 10 full time employees

• Concrete Structure Investigations 
Helping keep the construction industry on a secure footing with a complete range of concrete testing solutions including being the only NZ company to offer pile integrity tests.
• HR Shop  
Reinventing the traditional HR/recruitment paradigm, the company has grown from one person working from a desk in the Library to a dynamic teaming working across the country in under three years.
• Neos Systems   
Providing information and communication technology products and services to small and medium businesses throughout New Zealand, or as they say, just taking care of IT all.
• PaperKite   
Making Apps for almost as long as there have been stores to sell them, the company has put organisations like the All Blacks, Met Service and the United Nations onto a device near you.
• Straight Flush Plumbing  
Dealing domestic and commercial clients a great hand with plumbing, gasfitting and drainlaying services being the strong suits. It has grown fast. AND they were 2014 NZ Master Plumbers of the Year!
• Summer of Tech  
Now in its 9th year of facilitating paid summer internships and IT boot-camps, delivering top talent to top businesses and government institutions, with top results.
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GLOBAL GOLD in association with ANZ
exporters

• Aspeq  
Giving pilots and aircraft engineers a testing time and passing with flying colours. Aspeq supplies licence and flight testing services to Civil Aviation organisations and to the wider transport, construction and financial services industries, here, in Australia and in the UK.
• Groenz  
Giving life to a variety of spices and condiments has taken Groenz to the world. From mustards to hollandaise sauce,including the famous French Maid brand, providing true-to-taste products to cafes, restaurants and home kitchens right here and all the way over there.
• Powershop  
New Zealand’s first online powerco shook the domestic electricity market to its core back in 2009 and is now shaking them overseas delivering lower power costs and higher satisfaction, not easy in the current climate.
• Sanpro Industries   
It’s exhausting work but they do it, world leaders in hi-tech high-speed exhaust tube perforating machines for the 
international market with specs that no competitor has yet come close to matching.
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SUPPORTING GOLD in association with BECA  
services & infrastructure 

• Datacom New Zealand   
Celebrating 50 years of designing, building and running IT services for businesses across New Zealand and the world, with 4000 staff (including 1,450 in Wellington) in 23 offices.
• Le Cordon Bleu New Zealand Institute   
Founded in Paris in 1895, with over 50 schools in 20 countries, one of the world’s only global educators. The NZ school opened in 2012 -  and has turned out a great batch of chefs, patissiers and other practitioners of the culinary arts.
• Motu Economic & Public Policy Research  
A small team of world-class economic and public policy researchers based in Cuba Mall, currently the top-ranked research organization in the country, fiercely independent and having a global impact.
• Uprise Digital  
Transforming the New Zealand advertising landscape by creating trackable and measurable digital campaigns, so that clients know exactly where their money goes and what it’s doing while it’s there.
• WELTEC School of Construction  
Building on the success of those who’ve gone before and delivering the full range of 
construction-related trade and professional training: 150 courses and 9000 students right now!
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VIBRANT GOLD in association with Wellington Airport
events &  hospitality

• Asian Events Trust   
A charitable trust set up in 2004 to organise events to celebrate and promote the Asian culture to all, with its flagship Chinese New Year Festival attracting thousands including quite a few dragons.
• Coastlands Aquatic Centre   
With an adjustable pool bottom and innovative programming, the complex also boasts the first translucent roof in Australasia, keeping energy costs down while letting the outside in. 
• The New Zealand Festival   
For three weeks every two years the world’s artistic best takes over the city, enthralling and amazing over a quarter of a million people, which takes a fair bit of organising.
• Wellington Phoenix FC   
Thanks to the efforts of a talented coach and passionate professionals on and off the field they recently made it to the top of the A League ladder, inspiring a new generation of players.
• Weta Cave   
At the very heart of Middle-earth you can catch a glimpse of what it takes to make films of epic proportions, with people flocking from upper, lower and all other earthly parts.

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BEST PRACTICE AWARDS:

ACC WORKPLACE SAFETY AWARD
workplace safety practices

• BRANZ
As a leading source of information  for the building and construction industry, Branz needs to be at the top of its game.  Last year it initiated a review into its own health and safety practices, with implementation following soon after.
• Catalyst Consulting   
Designing and overseeing the construction of workplace environments, with the aim of making them safe for everyone. “Everyone home today, as they came to work” is their safety vision.
• Opus International Consultants   
Realising there’s no silver bullet when it comes to managing health and safety the company developed its own all-encompassing approach towards the goal of zero harm.
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GREEN GOLD in association with Greater Wellington Regional Council
sustainability 

• Booker Spalding  
Sustainably tailoring corporate uniforms for the Australasian market by reducing waste, handling it better, upcycling and remanufacturing and gaining Enviro-Mark Diamond status in the process.
• Foodstuffs  
Rolling out a radical new holistic approach to waste management across 180 stores with results that have impressed across the board, and the Board, including a massive reduction in what ends up in landfills.
• IdealCup  
A reusable coffee cup designed and made in Wellington, barista friendly (v. important), no leaks, no toxins, easily branded and totally recyclable?  That sounds ideal, and it is.
• James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor  
268 beds, 2 restaurants, 8 function rooms, over 150 staff and the first hotel in New Zealand to be awarded gold level environmental certification from both Qualmark and EC3.
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TEAM GOLD  in association with  Southern Cross Health Society
HR & wellness 

• Boost  
Using a consultative software development tool that allows a team approach on projects, puts people over programs and gives Boost the edge when it comes to getting ideas into software. 
• Masterpet  
Looking after those who look after their pets and looking after each other at the same time, the team at Masterpet puts the company at the head of the pack as a great place to work. 
• Nature Connections    
Bringing together 10 of the region’s best-known eco-assets (Wellington Zoo, Zealandia, Pukaha Mount Bruce, Matiu/Somes Island, Battle Hill Farm Forest Park, Kaitoke Regional Park, Wellington Botanic Gardens, Otari-Wilton's Bush, Nga Manu Nature Reserve and Staglands Wildlife Reserve) and helping them to work, train and share knowledge within a managed framework.
• Simply Dental  
The idea was to create the best adolescent dental service possible and that needed a high performance team culture in order to succeed.  So they built one, and it works.
• Touchtech  
Taking a team approach to producing mobile and web applications with remote working systems, creative space and reward schemes where everyone buying in gets to splash out.
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