From Manu to Matariki: NZEA 2025 Awards

Aerial choreography, orchestral scale, and splash-judging software steal the show

The 2025 New Zealand Events Association (NZEA) Awards once again highlighted the country’s best in event delivery, innovation, and storytelling. Held in Hamilton, the annual conference and gala awards dinner brought together more than 400 industry professionals to acknowledge outstanding achievements across Aotearoa’s diverse event landscape. This year’s celebrations stood out not just for the calibre of events, but for the increasing integration of clever, culturally grounded technology.

Scott Rice and Quantum Events Sweeps with ManuTech

The most talked-about innovation of the night was Z Manu World Champs’ ManuTech Judging Software. Taking out awards for Technology Innovation of the Year, Marketing/Creative, and securing Scott Rice the Established Industry Professional of the Year title, the project marked a significant evolution in how performance is assessed at live events.

Developed in collaboration with AUT, the system uses high-frame-rate video capture and proprietary software to measure splash height and volume during manu (bombing) competitions. What has traditionally relied on crowd reaction and visual estimation has now been transformed into an objective, data-backed judging process. The system debuted at Auckland’s Moana Festival, earning praise for both its cultural sensitivity and technical precision.

Stagecraft, Lighting and Aerial Innovation Take Centre Stage

The evening’s awards also spotlighted the evolving sophistication in live event production, from large-scale orchestral mashups to light-driven community gatherings and airborne narratives.

SYNTHONY, which scooped up Music Event of the Year, continued to redefine what a music festival can look and feel like. The 2025 edition of SYNTHONY in the Domain fused live orchestras with DJs, vocalists and dazzling visual design to deliver an immersive, genre-crossing performance. With a sell-out crowd of 41,000, it was also New Zealand’s largest single-day event. Duco Touring’s streamlined approach, executed by Global Production Partners, proved that tight runtime, production synergy, and audience immersion can co-exist at scale.

Equally ambitious in its scope and sound was the World Choir Games 2024, which earned both Major/Mega Event of the Year and New Zealand’s Favourite Event through public voting. Staged by the New Zealand Choral Federation, the event brought together 11,000 choristers from 42 countries and attracted around 25,000 attendees. Staged across multiple venues, it showcased Aotearoa’s capacity to deliver complex, multicultural productions while also generating an estimated $20 million in tourism spend. The opening ceremony at Spark Arena, directed by Malia Johnston (World of Wearable Art, FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 Opening), combined large-scale choral performance with choreography, projection and kapa haka. Designed by Rowan Pierce (WOMAD, NZ Opera, Tāwhiri), with original music by Eden Mulholland (Dance Aotearoa, Atamira Dance Company, theatre composition), it set an Olympic-level tone, equal parts spectacle and cultural welcome.

“The World Choir Games was more than an event – it was a celebration of culture, community and the human voice,” said Elaine Linnell, General Manager of NZEA. “To see it recognised by both industry peers and the New Zealand public speaks volumes about the impact it had.”

Lighting design took a more community-focused angle with Glow in the Park, Ashburton’s popular after-dark activation. Awarded Local Government Event of the Year, the three-night event drew nearly 60,000 attendees. With inclusive programming like low-sensory sessions designed for neurodiverse patrons, the event showcased how lighting can be both creatively ambitious and socially considerate.

Up in the sky, Rotorua’s ARONUI Indigenous Arts Festival in partnership with Australia’s First Lights, took home Arts, Cultural or Heritage Event of the Year for their Matariki Drone Show. Featuring 160 synchronised drones and grounded in deep wānanga and cultural leadership, the show wove te ao Māori narratives into luminous aerial choreography. It marked another step forward in legitimising drones not just as eye-candy, but as authentic mediums for storytelling in the public space.

On the ground, infrastructure got its due as EPIC! Event Structures were recognised as Supplier of the Year for their work on Te Matatini. Delivering culturally aligned, flexible and weather-resistant staging for the nation’s most prestigious kapa haka festival is no easy feat. The award acknowledged the role of staging partners in enabling tikanga-informed, high-movement performance environments that are as technically sound as they are culturally grounded.

Beyond the Spotlight: From Wild Foods to Meatballs

Beyond headline innovations, the NZEA 2025 Gala crowned a delightful lineup of events that prove not everything needs drones or orchestras to dazzle. The Hastings Meatball Festival rolled to victory with Food, Beverage or Lifestyle Event of the Year. A debut festival, it drew 5,000 punters and sold 15,000 meatballs in just three hours. Meanwhile, Whakatāne’s Local Wild Food Festival took out Best Event Under 3,000 Attendees. Set under ancient pōhutukawa by the bay, it served up kai from the land, rivers, and sea.

Sport and youth were also recognised, with the Zespri AIMS Games crowned Best Event Over 3,000 Attendees, and the ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Auckland clinching Sports Event of the Year for its high-speed maritime action.

People Power: Recognising Industry Leaders and Rising Stars

The people-focused awards this year spotlighted emerging talent, inclusive vision, and enduring leadership. Nathan White, event director with Otago Event Planning, was named Emerging Industry Professional of the Year for his work with Ripe, The Wanaka Wine and Food Festival, which also won the Sustainability Initiative of the Year.

Ginger’s Pop-ups, a Mount Maunganui–based, not-for-profit series of inclusive events for women and gender minorities founded in 2024 by Lisa Rooney of Blabla Events, took out the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiative of the Year for its bold and authentic approach to community celebration. And in a heartfelt moment, Loren Aberhart, Chair of NZEA Board for the last four years and recently departed from the helm of Destination & Attraction for ChristchurchNZ, received the Outstanding Contribution to the Industry award, honouring her decades-long commitment to raising the bar and opening doors across the event space.

Conclusion

This year’s NZEA Gala didn’t just celebrate the expected logistics, marketing, and production wins. It also shone a light on how homegrown technology, culturally rooted innovation, and collaborative design are shaping the future of live events in Aotearoa.