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2024

Fabulous Placemaking
Celebration

The Kūmara Awards 2024 were a huge success! Over 300 fabulous placemaking projects were nominated and we grew our reach by over 29,000 people online. Hundreds of people came together to celebrate those that won awards, enjoying brilliant company, kai, drinks, and live music.

All three celebrations happened on the same night, with each region bringing its own unique flavour to the events and creating a truly uplifting and joyous evening of shared connection and possibilities for the future.

Meet the Winners 2024

Tāmaki Makarau • Auckland • Tāmaki Makarau

What a celebration!

This year it was such a joy to see so very many nominations and to host the Tāmaki Makaurau Kūmara Awards in person. There is such a huge amount of great placemaking going on - thanks to the amazing placemakers who make it happen! With beautiful projects from inspiring professionals to passionate enthusiasts, it wasn't at all easy to pick winners and so we celebrated all those who were shortlisted with a night to remember right in the heart of the city at the Ellen Melville Centre.

Te Hōnonga a Iwi
Restoring Rosedale Park

Mā te haukāinga hei tūāpapa ki te ao tūroa /
It Takes a Village

Kauri Park School
Container Art Project

Ahakoa he iti, ko tōna painga ka puawaitia
From Little Things Big Things Grow

Kei tua atu i te kaupapa
Beyond the brief

Hub West

Tiakina te whenua, ka manaakitia te tangata
Caring For the Land, Caring For the People

Grow Forrest Hill

Ngā akoranga i muri, hei tūāpapa ki ngā mahi ki mua
Looking Back to Move Forward

Te Pu-a-nga Maara

The Patiki Community Hub, Great North Gallery, Mens Shed Auckland East, Yarn for Pride, Future Future Festival, Sozo Coffee House, Pasifika Festival, Waitangi @ Waititi, Project Twin Streams, has received an Honourable Mention in The Kūmara Awards 2024

Loud Hurrah!

Te Upoko o Te Ika a Māui • Greater Wellington • Te Upoko o Te Ika a Māui

What a wonder!

The Kūmara Awards 2024 celebration in Wellington was a wonderful evening, full of energy and inspiring conversations. Placemakers from across the region came together in an intimate setting, making it a perfect night for networking and celebrating the best in placemaking. Here too, there is such a huge amount of awesome placemaking happening in all kinds of settings, and it was fabulous to hear more about projects from those involved. The event was a true showcase of the talent and creativity shaping Wellington's public spaces.

Tē Pātē Community Space

Mā te haukāinga hei tūāpapa ki te ao tūroa /
It Takes a Village

Ahakoa he iti, ko tōna painga ka puawaitia
From Little Things Big Things Grow

Playscape Urban Swing

Kei tua atu i te kaupapa
Beyond the brief

Picnic in Parks

Berhampore and
Island Bay Orchard

Tiakina te whenua, ka manaakitia te tangata
Caring For the Land, Caring For the People

Ngā akoranga i muri, hei tūāpapa ki ngā mahi ki mua
Looking Back to Move Forward

Tātarakihi Wayfinding

Riding with Olivia and Porirua Chorus Box Project has received an Honourable Mention in The Kūmara Awards 2024

Loud Hurrah!

Ōtautahi • Christchurch • Ōtautahi

What a joy!

The Kūmara Awards 2024 in Ōtautahi Christchurch reached, by far, the largest number of people and projects yet and the celebration was a fantastic opportunity for networking, celebrating and showcasing this work. Held at 231 High Street, the event brought together those passionate about public spaces across the city to champion and cheer placemaking that happens [almost!] everyday. From large-scale initiatives to grassroots efforts, the projects showcased how placemaking can foster a sense of belonging, bring communities closer together and build a more cohesive city.

Nature Play at Hansen Park

Mā te haukāinga hei tūāpapa ki te ao tūroa /
It Takes a Village

Ahakoa he iti, ko tōna painga ka puawaitia
From Little Things Big Things Grow

Place Cadets

Kei tua atu i te kaupapa
Beyond the brief

Nigel Mahan Pump Track

Richmond Community Gardens + Riverlution

Tiakina te whenua, ka manaakitia te tangata
Caring For the Land, Caring For the People

Ngā akoranga i muri, hei tūāpapa ki ngā mahi ki mua
Looking Back to Move Forward

Unity Week

Loud Hurrah!

Spreydon Sunflower Competition and Yarnachy has received an Honourable Mention in The Kūmara Awards 2024

Fabulous Judges 2024

Tāmaki Makaurau • Auckland • Tāmaki Makaurau

Eric Thompson

Eric has been a practicing designer for over 30 years. He holds a Master of Design from Massey University and has worked in tertiary education for the past 14 years in various teaching and senior management roles.
Eric started his design career working at numerous agencies before establishing his own design practice in London for eight years. Returning to New Zealand Eric has worked at Massey University, the Media Design School, in Australia at the Billy Blue College of Design and Torrens University and The NewSchool of Architecture & Design in San Diego before joining Whitecliffe College.
He has presented most recently at VIVID Sydney and the International Design Conference in Brisbane; and is a published author at Harper Collins. His personal passion in the design space is ‘a sense of place and place making’ and has worked on place branding projects for Helensville, Wellsford and Matakana Coast and Country.

Damian Powley

Whatungarongaro te tangata toitū te whenua.
As we (people) disappear from sight, the land remains.
I always remind myself of this whakatauki when conceptualising our role as designers and shapers of the land, and our role is to dig deeper, develop and build layers towards recognising and celebrating our moment in time. A lot of what I do is around connecting and involving people into the design process for. Honouring community throughout that process is important because they are the ones that live there.
‘The skill of a good designer is being able to spot the diamonds in the rough garnered from active participation in the design process.
‘And you know, for each and every project we do, it constantly fascinates me — how we can uncover our inherent connections between people and place. It wasn’t until I started to learn a bit more about my taha Māori side, that I found there’s not just synergies between Te Ao Māori and design approaches to the land — good design is one and the same. And we do have an inherently unique story to tell here in Aotearoa.’

Lucy Tukua

Kaihautū Whakarito - Technical Director Regenerative Outcomes and Senior Leadership at Mott MacDonald, Ngāti Paoa Iwi Trust Board, and so much more!

Lucy Tukua, Ngāti Tahinga, Ngāti Paoa and Ngāti Whanaunga, is passionately active in the progress and development of whānau, hapū and Iwi. Through her consultancy NativebyNature and her current role, she has and continues to be instrumental in protecting and advocating for mana motuhake, identity and self-determination through storying of place, acknowledging that from an indigenous perspective placemaking is incongruent to what we understand, i.e. #PlaceMakesUs. We are our pepeha and our pepeha is us. Our environment is akin to our mokopuna – we are reflected back in our places and spaces.

Edward Peni

Edward Peni is a Placemaker with Eke Panuku Development Auckland having worked across several locations across Auckland and a strong focus on connecting creative arts and communities. A few of the projects that he has enabled are the Avondale Great North Gallery with I Love Avondale, Te Pūtahi Auaha with Dr Bobby Hung aka Berst and Bike Avondale Night Ride which saw record attendance in 2023.

Penny Hulse MNZM

As a longtime (now retired) city councillor I use my experience to support communities to take charge of their own futures. As a grandmother I work to help secure more sustainable, resilient and hopeful futures for our rangatahi.

Yana Kirakovskaya

Being a Russian Kiwi, Yana worked in creative international across the world, delivered over 50 creative campaigns for world famous brands such as Nestle, Disney, Bacardi, Nokia, Cirque du Soleil, Penguin Random House. That professional experience inspired Yana to start her own business Papaya Stories that she founded in 2015. In her work she likes to explore the interconnection of disciplines and see how creative practices such as arts and play, storytelling and psychology can improve and enrich people's lives.
Yana is the brain behind multiple interactive placemaking activations such as award-winning interactive city adventures known as Silent Disco Citywalk®, Immersive series of themed parties - Secret Party Quest, gastronomy theatrical series - Dining Out with World Icons.

Emma-Jane Ormsby

Emma-Jane Ormsby, an artist born in 2001 in Hamilton, New Zealand, is known for her multidisciplinary work encompassing sculpture, photography, digital arts, textiles, and painting. Her art, deeply rooted in Te Ao Māori, explores themes of colonization, identity, and feminism. Emma employs Kaupapa Māori methodology, creating collaborative pieces that strive for cultural education and re-indigenization, reflecting her urban upbringing and Māori heritage.

John Sutton

Having worked with local government and community initiatives/groups for over 10 years, John brings his experience in developing and delivering projects/outcomes. John has a generalist approach to the work, understanding the broad landscape of a project, and can confidently see the big picture, as well as drill down to a micro level.
As Managing Director of Fresh Concept, John manages key stakeholder relationships while ensuring bespoke outcomes are delivered on time, within budget, and to the highest level. John leads a multidisciplinary team with a range of expertise from design, workshop facilitation and strategy, through to on the ground delivery of activations and events.

Paris Kirby

Meet Paris Kirby, a passionate advocate for vibrant communities and the newly appointed Placemaking and Community Engagement Lead at Fletcher Living. With a Master of Design from the University of Auckland, Paris is a recognized thought leader in placemaking, urbanism, and community development in Aotearoa.
As the founder and director of Social Ritual for over a decade, Paris empowered diverse communities, activated public spaces, and led community-driven initiatives across Tamaki Makaurau. Her commitment to fostering local leadership, bi-cultural partnerships, regenerative design and arts and culture integration reflects her dedication to genuinely empowering people to be active and engaged citizens.

Te Upoko o Te Ika a Māui • Greater Wellington • Te Upoko o Te Ika a Māui

Josephine Clark

Josephine, the Māori Design Advisor at Wellington City Council since August 2023, is eager to make a significant contribution. She is a co-chair of Nga Aho and a NZIA Registered Landscape Architect. With over 10 years of experience in landscape architecture and cultural advising, she has demonstrated a consistent dedication to connecting with local iwi in their place. Having contributed to supporting iwi to enhance mauri of Taiao throughout the North Island through her experience, Josephine is committed to instilling, inspiring, into development, teaching, and training of rangatahi. Ready to explore, develop, and learn, she's excited about her role in supporting Mana Whenua in Te Upoko o Te Ika a Maui and their goal to re-indigenise the city.

Miriam Moore

Miriam (Tainui, Ngāti Mahuta) is an urban designer, who has worked both in Tāmaki Makaurau and Pōneke, where she is now based with Boffa Miskell. Her work spans across spatial planning, preparing design guidance, and reimagining streets as places for people. Miriam is interested in designing inclusive and sustainable urban centres and getting more people moving on foot and by bike. She believes community-led initiatives are key to making urban places thrive. She is also interested in the role of planning and design at a governance level and is an elected member on the Tawa Community Board.

Abbie McKoy

Abbie McKoy is the Manager of Community Engagement and Partnerships at Kainga Ora - Homes and Communities. Her team looks after community spaces in the Wellington region, working in partnership to activate them for the good of social housing customers and the wider community. She brings experience in placemaking, urban planning, and experiential engagement. She has led some significant local projects including launching Porirua City Council's Harbours Edge Pop Up, Ministry for the Environments Our Climate Future travelling exhibition, and most recently Te Ra Nui's Hui tahi tatou o Porirua experiential engagement.

Sam Dickie

Meet Sam Dickie, Play advocate extraordinaire! 🎭✨ I’m on a mission to turn the world into a play space and every day into a playful adventure. 🌈🤹‍♂️
With a pocket full of puns and a heart full of playfulness, I navigate through the mundane of bureaucracy and turn it into a carnival of colors. From building resilience through play streets to reimagining cinderblock facilities, I've got the playbook for turning moments into masterpieces.
Have you gone beyond the ordinary? Let’s celebrate your awesomeness with the world one kumara vine at a time🎉🤸‍♀️

Aaron Miller

Aaron Miller is a senior designer at Isthmus Group and has worked on a number of award-winning projects around Te Whanganui-a-Tara, often bridging the gap between architecture and landscape. Aaron has a true passion for placemaking and strives to create amazing spaces for people to thrive and enjoy in his work, spanning across transport infrastructure, public space rejuvenation, sculptural design outcomes, housing, and tactical interventions. He is currently helping lead the urban design for Te Ara Tupua ensuring this project will provide spaces and experiences for people to enjoy along this future active transport corridor.

Ōtautahi • Christchurch • Ōtautahi

Prof. Simon Kingham

Simon is a UC professor in the School of Earth and Environment. His research primarily focuses on the impact of the urban environment on health and wellbeing, with with a particular focus on transport, community and streetscape. Much of his research uses geospatial science including some done through the GeoHealth Laboratory, of which he is the Director. His research is generally applied and carried out with end users with a strong community engagement focus. He is also seconded two days a week to the Ministry of Transport as their Chief Science Advisor, where he advises the Ministry on the evidence base of government policy.

Wilby Le Heux

Wilby is passionate about creating opportunities to help neighbours connect with each other in Ōtautahi. Over the past 8 years he has developed skills in facilitating community-led development in community garden spaces and youth spaces. Within the community you will find him in the marā kai growing kamo kamo, tomatoes, and other heirloom veges.
Addington Farm won The Kūmara Award 2022!

Daisy Lavea Timo

Daisy has spent over 15 years working in the education, youth and government sectors as an educator, youth worker, engagement practitioner and facilitator (IAP2). She founded Cross-Polynate with a desire to combine a team of Avengers to improve outcomes for people and communities across the motu and Moana-Nui-A-Kiwa.
Daisy is a proud wife and mum. She’s also the 2017 New Zealand Slam Poetry Champion, a 2020 Creative New Zealand NZ Leadership Scholar, has spoken and performed internationally, has a few degrees from the University of Canterbury and dabbles in Rugby League.

Christine Lane

Christine Lane, with over 22 years in Community Development, is deeply connected to Christchurch. Inspired by her grandfather, a former Lyttelton Mayor, she engaged in significant local projects from a young age. At 17, Christine co-founded the Waltham Youth Trust, championing community engagement through placemaking. Her career spans local government roles in New Zealand and Australia, focusing on placemaking education and project implementation. Passionate about social enterprise, she co-authored a book on its history in Christchurch for a global forum.

Solomon Smith

Sol has 25 years’ experience working with and in communities through both paid and voluntary roles. This has been achieved through working in NGO, Local Government and now Government organisations. He lead the establishment of Rugby League Samoa, South Island and the South Islands biggest grassroots, Community & Pacific event - The Christchurch Pacific Series. In 2019 Sol established a community arts and creative space in Rowley (Hoon Hay), Christchurch, called th’Orchard. His voluntary roles have included executive and membership roles on several boards. After 13 awesome years with the Christchurch City Council, Sol then worked for Stats NZ in a Community Engagement Advisory role for Census 2023 and now works for Kainga Ora as a Stakeholder Relationship Manager.