Pride of Te Awamutu Awards

The Pride of Te Awamutu Awards were established by Te Awamutu Alive to acknowledge the success of people from Te Awamutu. The inaugural annual ceremony was held on Friday evening, 4th April 2003 at the Te Awamutu College Hall.

The main event was the unveiling of the first pavement stone in the new "Walk of Fame". Mayor Alan Livingston explained the concept of the walk, which will be constructed at Selwyn Park as part of the planned upgrade later this year. Like the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the walk will feature a series of personalised stones inscribed with celebrity names and their field of achievement.

In what was hardly a major upset, the first stone was awarded to Tim and Neil Finn for their outstanding musical success. The large crowd in attendance was treated to an acceptance speech by Neil in which he said "When you're born in Te Awamutu, you're always from Te Awamutu. You never lose that".

The audience wasn't about to let him get away without a free performance, so Neil offered a wonderful unaccompanied rendition of Van Morrison's "Irish Heartbeat". Explaining that the Finns sing this song at family gatherings, Neil described it as being "about going back to where you're from".

Master of ceremonies Steve Sauders kept up the pace throughout the full programme and contributed greatly with his energetic humour.

Local historian Bill Neill made an excellent job of providing a concise overview of early European history in Te Awamutu, aided by a slideshow of historical photographs.

Perhaps the most notable part of the evening, however, was the sheer number of impressive achievements by local people. The list below includes those who received awards for success in their chosen field. Recipients were given a certificate commemorating the event and their names are to be recorded in a book which will reside at the Te Awamutu Museum.