Over 400 members of the forestry community from across the lower North Island came together in Palmerston North to finally find something to celebrate in the form of the SNI Wood Council Forestry Awards, says Council CEO, Erica Kinder.
“We had a good catch up over a buffet dinner, drinks, and entertainment which was provided as part of this event. Thirteen trophies were awarded from a record pool of 74 nominees across the categories.
“A social media campaign titled, ‘Nominate a Mate’ was released over Instagram and Facebook by our Wood Council in the weeks leading up to the event. This resulted in more nominations than ever from the contractor members nominating each other. Many new faces were drawn into the awards that is an annual highlight for the SNI Wood Council.”
The focus of the evening was on the nominees with slideshows playing during the evening. These showed every nominee out in their workplace and spot prizes were handed out as part of the awards.
“We really needed a night to get together, celebrate ourselves for once, and send our 410 attendees back out there as advocates for the sector, with some good stories to tell. I think as a Wood Council, we pulled together an amazing event,” adds Ms Kinder.
“Forestry has seen a slew of negative media in previous months. Many contractors and businesses are under pressure with the damaging comments persisting. These have affected the health of our forestry workplaces.
“We must counter these often inaccurate and aggressive styles of reporting misinformation with examples of what is really happening in forestry. It remains a goal of the SNI Wood Council to provide insight into the hundreds of people working in forestry. We want to share good news stories of our workplaces, and shine a spotlight on the giant contribution forestry has made to our local economies and the environment.
“We will continue to hold these awards every year, as well as maintain our range of social license programmes, and continue to provide accurate information about forestry to the public.”
