Waipa District Council have taken out the winning spot in the Taituarā Great CD Competition for their community consultation document, What’s Next Waipa?

The judges praised Waipa for a consultation document that showed clear evidence of an upfront strategic direction and its link to the key issues. This was combined with a succinct analysis of the options, excellent summaries and graphic design, it is also a pleasure to read. In 2018 Waipa received a highly commended.

This year the judges chose to award a highly commended award in addition to a winner. This went to Central Hawke's Bay District Council for its Consultation Document titled 'Facing the Facts'.

The judges recognised its bright vibrant design, use of symbols, and infographics. There were clearly identifiable themes as well as one of the best, and most consistent, presentations of options. This is a Council that has significantly upped its game in the area of community engagement over the last few years and this shows in the design of its excellent Consultation Document.

Fifty-six councils entered this year's Taituarā Great CD Competition and the quality of this year's entries was very high. A panel of six judges delivered their assessments of the record number of entries on a reduced timeframe.

Sharing best practice

The Great CD Competition is held not only to recognise best practice within the local government sector, but also to a valuable learning opportunity. The diversity of great ideas and approaches exhibited by Aotearoa New Zealand's 78 councils is something to be celebrated and shared with fellow local government colleagues across the motu.

What makes a good consultation document?

As always the judges have rewarded brevity, clarity and creativity. It is no accident that the longer Consultation Documents tended to finish at the back of the field. And as we did the moderation two weeks ago the question that our judges were frequently asking was 'did the Consultation Document make me want to read it?', and with these entries the answer is a resounding 'yes'.

The name of the Taituarā guide to the Consultation Document is 'Telling Our Stories'. A good Consultation Document has a clear, coherent narrative of a council’s vision for the community and the role that councils play in shaping that community. For ‘pure’ Long-term Plan storytelling as a craft, it is extremely hard to go past Hauraki District Council’s 'Alice in our Place'. The story Hauraki District Council tells would be hard to construct without an in-depth knowledge of, and more than that a genuine connection with and affinity for their community. In other years this may well have been the runaway winner.

Taituarā would like to congratulate and thank all 56 councils which took part this year.

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