Wairoa man scores shot at national engineering award

September 2007

Wairoa District Council’s Neil Cook was announced as a finalist in the 2007 New Zealand Engineering Excellence (NZEE) Awards Young Engineer of the Year today.

The New Zealand Young Engineer of the Year Award is awarded to a young engineer, aged 35 years or under, who is judged to have made the most excellent contribution as an engineer and leader through their professional role and community involvement. The winner will receive a trophy and a cash prize of $2,000.00. The other three finalists will each receive $500.00.

Neil, with his wife and family, moved from Auckland to Wairoa to manage the local office of Opus International Consultants in 2003. Two years later, he was appointed Engineering Manager at Wairoa District Council. As a newcomer to Local Government, Neil conceived the idea for a risk management tool as a means of prioritising and justifying resource allocation across many diverse activities. His project allows for meaningful comparison when making budget decisions such as whether to allocate funds to water treatment or roading. He provides work experience for local students through the Gateway and Trades Academy programmes and is Secretary of the Wairoa Celtic Rugby & Sports Club. Neil, who is now learning te reo Maori, says that he has come to love Wairoa as part of the heartland of Aotearoa.
Neil is competing against three other finalists and is required to will present at Auckland’s Parnell Rose Gardens on Wednesday, 26 September 2007 from 6 pm.

The judges have already marked 80 per cent of the finalists’ scores from their applications; the final 20 per cent will be determined by an audience of judges, family, friends and peers at the live presentation.

“The high standard of entries for this award signals that the future of New Zealand engineering is in very good hands”, says Steve Gentry, Convenor for the NZEE Individual Awards judging panel. “These finalists represent the crème of the professional engineering crop”.

The New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards are staged by a consortium of five partners and 10 contributing organisations. The founding partners are: Centre for Advanced Engineering (CAE); Association of Local Government Engineering New Zealand Incorporated (INGENIUM); Electricity Engineers Association of New Zealand (EEA); Association of Consulting Engineers New Zealand (ACENZ); and the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand Inc (IPENZ).

Media enquiries contact Verona-Meiana Putaranui, IPENZ Media Co-ordinator:

Email: media@ipenz.org.nz

Phone: 04 473 2028 / 021 479 885