NZ Memorial Dedication in London Wins Top Award

Media Release

13 December 2007

NZ Memorial Dedication in London Wins Top Award

The dedication ceremony for the New Zealand Memorial in London– designed as a place where Kiwis can feel at home – has won a prestigious UKaward.

The event has won the International Visual Communication Association award for projects that inform and educate their audiences.

The Memorial at Hyde Park Corner, commissioned by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, reflects the enduring bonds between the two nations, not only through the sacrifices of the two World Wars, but in cultural, trade and immigration links.

The Ministry’s manager for Heritage Operations, Brodie Stubbs, says he is delighted the dedication ceremony – which was widely acclaimed – has been recognised.

“The Memorial speaks strongly of New Zealandas a nation and of our special relationship with the UK. The dedication ceremony was an equally powerful and moving expression of our identity,” he says.

This is the third major award the Memorial has won.

The dedication, on 11 November last year, took place in the presence of Her Majesty The Queen and other members of the royal family, as well as Prime Ministers Helen Clark and Tony Blair, and 3000 invited guests and onlookers.

It included a 120-strong military march to Hyde Park Corner, a spectacular fly past above the park, and the emotional participation of over sixty New Zealandand UKveterans who fought in WWII, Japan, Koreaand the Malayan emergency.

Performances by Dave Dobbyn and Hayley Westenra, and  karanga and haka, expressed the strong cultural significance of the occasion.

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