From sausage winners, to HB business award finalists, to Ngā Toi Creative Hawke’s Bay, to HB’s feature film premiering, to singer-songwriter Ella Pollett, to HB Airport going solar, here are some notable announcements you might have missed.

Sausages triumph!

With winners selected from 814 entries nationwide, Hastings New World won the region’s only gold medal – for its Beef Worcestershire Cracked Pepper sausage – in the 2025 Dunninghams Great New Zealand Sausage competition. Plus a silver medal for its Pork Cranberry & Camembert sausage and a bronze for Korean Beef Kalbi verson.

• Wild Game – Wild Game Cheese Kranksy and Old School Saveloys
• Lucas and Sons – Lucas and Sons Pure beef
• New World Havelock North – Sweet Summer Heat

The Classic Butcher scored a silver for its Cumberland Sausage. And bronzes to the following:

For serious sausage aficionados, visit Westmere Butchery on Auckland. They were the Supreme Winner for the fourth time in ten years, boasting three golds, three silvers and two bronzes.

Wouldn’t it be great to have tasting notes as with champion wines – ‘a velvetly flourish at the back of the tongue, with a hint of…’

Hawke’s Bay Business Awards

The PanPac Hawke’s Bay Business Awards finalists have been announced by the HB Chamber of Commerce:

• Best Micro Business: Sacred Space Cleaning, Contentment PR and Communications. 
• People’s Choice: Cleva Chiropractic, Pēpi Eats, Hygge at Clifton Bay. 
• Best Emerging Business: RossAi, Cleva Chiropractic, MTF Finance Napier.
• Outstanding Māori and Pasifika Business: Kauwaka, Kahu Scaffolding Ltd, Tātau Tātau o Te Wairoa 
• Outstanding Social Impact: MTF Finance Napier, Tātau Tātau o Te Wairoa, Hōhepa Hawke’s Bay.
• Excellence in Business: Bizdom, HB Homes & Commercial, Brittin Builders.

Also, a Leader of the Year will be awarded.

Awards sponsors include: EIT, NCC, HDC, Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Inc, MediaWorks/The Breeze, Unison, Pan Pac and 2degrees.

The winners will be announced at a gala event at the Napier War Memorial Centre on 14 November. Tickets are available at hbbusinessawards.nz.

Plus Youth Biz Awards

HB Chamber also announced  winners of the region’s Tumu HB Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) Awards. YES supports senior secondary students to set up and run their own businesses, with real profits and losses. It included four challenges over the year, including selling at a market day.

More than 400 students from 19 high schools across the region competed this year.

Culture Quest, from Sacred Heart College, won Company of the Year for Hawke’s Bay North, with their flashcards designed to increase cultural understanding and reduce racism. Chief Executive Frankie Pilcher says the idea was inspired by her group’s cultural diversity.    “The concept really meant something to us. This win feels really great.”

Baril from St John’s College was Company of the Year for Hawke’s Bay South, producing a range of furniture from old wine and oil barrels, including bean bag chairs and bar leaners. Sean Loetscher, Baril Chief Executive, says the team is thrilled to win recognition for its products. “The whole process has taught us a lot about running a business and at times really pushed us out of our comfort zone.” 

The two regional winners will next pitch their businesses against the country’s best at the YES National Awards on December 4 in Wellington.

Ngā Toi Creative Hawke’s Bay newsletter

From news on the upcoming Hawke’s Bay Art Trail, to Hawke’s Bay Art review 2025 winners – now on display at Creative Arts Napier (CAN), to a new creative space for young people – Napier’s Rangatahi Youth Hub, to financial, cultural competency, and digital marketing workshops for professional creatives, to creative space available at The Ant Farm, there’s heaps on offer for and from HB’s creative community.

Check out the scene in the Ngā Toi Creative Hawke’s Bay newsletter.

What Lies Between

A feature film – a psychological thriller’ – made in Hawke’s Bay will be premiering 6 November at Focal Point Cinema in Havelock North. Written and directed by James Cleary, produced by Cleary and Daniel Betty (who also has a starring role). Here’s the teaser:

A writer, Jim (Daniel Betty), rents a cottage on remote New Zealand farmland. As he explores the forest bordering the cottage, it soon becomes evident that he is not alone as he first thought. One encounter with a stranger, Jess (Ruth Strong), finds her offering to help make sense of things, but as her interest intensifies, Jim begins to grow suspicious of her true intentions. As Jim rushes to understand events, it is revealed he is haunted by his past, and finds time may be running out to put things right, not just for him, but for others around him. 

Here’s the video trailer.

Singer-songwriter Ella Pollett

Exciting times are ahead for Hawke’s Bay’s own rising star, Ella Pollett, who is gearing up to release her new single and music video, “Losing My Mind,” on October 31.

Written by Ella herself and produced by Nigel Mauchline at The Stomach in Palmerston North, “Losing My Mind” is the latest in a string of singles from the award-winning artist. The track also marks Ella’s first ever round of funding from NZ On Air, signalling a significant milestone in her career.

In 2023, Ella opened for Rod Stewart at the Mission Concert. Two of her original songs featured on Shortland Street.

You can follow Ella on all social media platforms under Ella Pollett Music to keep up with her latest releases and performances.

HB Airport going solar

To make its operations more sustainable and reap some overhead savings, Hawke’s Bay Airport is investing in a rooftop solar system to be installed in the next few months.

Hawke’s Bay Airport CEO Nick Flack says: “Currently electricity consumption in the terminal is 86% of our total electricity usage. With energy prices high, it makes sense to make the most of our significant roof area and Hawke’s Bay’s beautiful weather to reduce our costs. Our new system will go a long way help us do that, as well as support our net zero carbon aspiration.”

The airport’s rooftop solar system will be one of the largest rooftop solar arrays in Napier, and is a solar plus battery solution. Six hundred and fifteen solar panels will produce 477,171 kWh per annum, equivalent to 44% of the airport’s annual terminal demand.

After a competitive tender process, the contract to supply the new solar system was awarded to Ecoefficient, a local Hawke’s Bay business. At a cost around $450,000, the system has a pay-back period of just over five years, and an estimated life of 30 years. It will also support Hawke’s Bay Airport’s renewal of its  Level 4+ airport carbon accreditation early next year.

In other solar news, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk confirmed that as of 23 October building consents are no longer required for installation of rooftop solar panels on existing homes and commercial buildings.

For rooftop installations over 40 square metres in total area per roof, or in very high wind speed areas, a chartered professional engineer must provide or review the design of the structural fixings for the exemption to apply.