The Bay of Plenty exporting community has come together to celebrate wins and hear success stories from the past year at the Zespri Bay of Plenty ExportNZ Awards.

The well-known annual awards dinner, sponsored by Zespri was held on Friday the June 22.

Head judge Barry Squires says this year proved to be a fierce competition.

'Export Awards Judging is very rewarding and enjoyable. The very high standard of the entrants made the judges' job very difficult in selecting the finalists and eventual winners.

'It is fantastic to see so many successful Bay of Plenty exporting businesses doing so well on the global stage".

All five winners were announced at an Alice in Wonderland themed awards event at ASB Baypark Stadium Lounge in Mount Maunganui.

The venue was transformed to fit the theme, with Te Radar as MC/Mad Hatter taking the group on an entertaining Adventure through Wonderland.

Exporters from all across the region were present at the event with Ziwi taking out the ‘Sharp Tudhope Lawyers Best Medium-Large Business' award and BeeNZ winning the ‘YOU Travel Best Emerging Business' award.

The team from Ziwi.

The BeeNZ team.

The ExportNZ Service to Export Awards was this year awarded to Greg and Mandy Jarvis of Bluelab.

Greg and Mandy are well known within the Export Community as being generous and humble givers and as such the couple have been recognised for their contributions both as individuals and as a team, an accolade which is being described as a first for the particular award.

In a highly contested category with phenomenal finalists, Stuart Hazeldine, the sales manager at Sequal was recognised as a ‘pioneer' who had shaped the business into what it is today in the ‘Beca Export Achievement' category.

Stuart Hazeldine, the sales manager at Sequal

Genera were identified as the winner of the ‘Page Macrae Engineering Innovation in Export' Award for their incredible efforts in sustainability that they are putting into practice in the biosecurity arena.

This year, the Winners of the Best Emerging Business, Best Medium-Large Business and the Excellence in Innovation Categories will become automatic finalists in the NZTE International Business Awards in November, and ExportNZ is excited to see them represent the Bay of Plenty on the National Stage.

The high calibre of companies and individuals who were named finalists in this year's awards meant there was serious competition across each and every category.

Full winners:

YOU Travel Best Emerging Business Award WINNER: BeeNZ

Page Macrae Engineering Excellence in Innovation Award WINNER: Genera

Beca Export Achievement Award WINNER: Stuart Hazeldine- Sequal

ExportNZ Service to Export Award WINNER: Greg & Mandy Jarvis

Sharp Tudhope Lawyers Best Medium - Large Business Award WINNER: Ziwi