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Entry deadline for ANZ Business of the Year 2024 extended

November 2, 2023

Entry deadline for ANZ Business of the Year 2024 extended

A late surge in the number of businesses entering the 2024 ANZ Business of the Year Awards has led organisers to extend the deadline for entries.


Over 100 entries had been received by 31 October, a 40 per cent increase on the 2022 event, and the deadline has now been extended to 21 November.


Council is partnering with Ri Ra Events to run the biennial awards, and Ri Ra marketing director Colm McGrath said he was delighted with the level of interest in the 2024 awards.

“The objective of the awards is to celebrate business success in our region. We have to credit ANZ and our category partners for helping us to promote and scale the event. With the extension, there’s still some time to enter and we’re encouraging all business in our region to do so.”


He said businesses could enter multiple categories.


“The most popular categories so far are Excellence in Retail and Hospitality, Emerging Business and Excellence in Customer Experience.”

Other popular categories were Excellence in Community Impact and Excellence in Professional Services.



The award categories were expanded for 2024, following feedback from entrants in the inaugural awards. Some categories now break down into small or medium/large businesses.


The categories are: Primary industries, technology and innovation, environmental sustainability, export, customer experience, and workplace culture.


There are other awards for excellence in emerging new business, community impact, emerging business leader, business leadership, manufacturing, retail and hospitality, and tourism.


Mr McGrath said the business awards endeavoured to celebrate excellence and give high achieving businesses in the Ashburton District a pat on the back for their creativity and passion.


To enter, and for more information, businessoftheyear.nz


Thank you to our category and service partners for the 2024 ANZ Business of the Year Awards.

Category Partners: ANZCO Foods, Silk Estate, Ashburton Toyota, Catalyst Performance Agronomy, Ashburton Toyota, Abbotts Insurance,  Croys, Trinity Employment Services, Naylor Love, Kaipak, Mt Hutt, Experience Mid Canterbury, Talley’s Group Ashburton.

Service Partners: Lushingtons Garden Centre, Electraserve Ashburton, Jones Family Farm, Sabelle Skin and Body Care, Twelfth Hour Distillery, Ashburton Toyota, DB Breweries, Silk Estate, House of Jam, Mediaworks.

Ashburton district event wins prestigious national award!

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Mid Canterbury’s event management and promotions company Rí Rá Events, working in partnership with the Ashburton District Council has picked up a prestigious New Zealand Events Association (NZEA) award for, “Best Local Government Event” for their production of the ANZ Business of The Year Awards 2024. Rí Rá Events attended the NZEA awards gala dinner in Palmerston North on Tuesday 27 th August to collect the award. The event also received “special mention” in the “Best Business Event” category on the evening. The ANZ Business of The Year Awards was held in February 2024 at the Ashburton Aviation Museum and 375 guests attended the gala awards dinner. The overall objective of the event was to promote the Ashburton District as a great place to do business. Rí Rá events have already commenced work on the 2026 Business of the Year Awards event welcoming ANZ Bank onboard once again for the journey. Speaking about the awards, director Colm McGrath said, “We’re delighted to win a New Zealand Event Association Award for this event. We believe it proves that Mid Canterbury can and does deliver great events. It was a pleasure to work with the economic development and events team from Ashburton District Council on this project” Rí Rá events & Ashburton District Council were shortlisted as finalists in July and competed against the following events, Local Wild Food Festival, Whakatāne District Council, Taste Hastings, Hastings District Council , TSB Festival of Lights Winter Pop Up, New Plymouth District Council and Waitangi Day 2024, Porirua City to win this award. Founded in 2019 by two Irish kiwis, Gary Manning & Colm McGrath Rí Rá Events produces and promotes events predominantly in the Mid Canterbury region. It’s key clients include The Embassy of Ireland, The Ashburton District Council, ANZ Bank, Ashburton Toyota and The New Zealand Law Society. The phase Rí Rá roughly translates from Gaeilge to English as ‘fun’.

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The ANZ Business of the Year Awards, a joint venture between Ashburton District Council & Ri Ra Events has been shortlisted as a finalist for Best Business Event and Best Local Government Event in the New Zealand Event Industry Awards 2024.

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