Tauranga based design companies Locus Research and Woods Creative both won prizes at this year's national BeST Design Awards – New Zealand design's equivalent to the Oscars.

Organised by the Designers Institute of New Zealand, the BeST Design Awards, held at the Auckland Museum on Friday, October 16, recognise New Zealand's top designs from the past year across the categories of product, graphic and spatial (interior) design.
Mt Maunganui based Locus Research, won a silver and two bronze product design awards at this year's event.
Locus Research won silver in the non-consumer product category for the design of Cortex, a sustainable timber cladding system developed for Napier based Pacific Wood Products.
Sustainable design underpinned the development of the factory finished weather board system, and for that reason that the judges also awarded Cortex a bronze in the sustainable product design category.
Locus Research's other bronze was in the non-consumer product category for the Drybase Tiled Shower System, developed for the Australian market.
Papamoa based Woods Creative won bronze in the interactive media and website design category for the design of a lingerie website.