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Nominations open for 2019 Wilderness Outdoor Awards

They’re back! And it’s down to you, our readers, to help us find the best gear, store service and huts.

Do you have a favourite hut or an outdoor hero? Is there an outdoor store or brand that you truly trust and reckon goes beyond the call?

Nominations are open in the 2019 Wilderness Outdoor Awards and we need your input to select the finalists for each category.

We’re looking for New Zealand’s favourite hut of 2019. You might like the location, the suitability for its surroundings, a cool feature which makes it stand out from the rest, or it may have been spruced up, inspiring more people to visit.

And once again we want to know who deserves to be crowned New Zealand’s outdoor hero, and we’re looking for the stores and brands that provide the highest quality of product and service.

Nominate now. You only have until September 9 to get your nominations in. Here’s the full list of categories:

  • Outdoor hero of the year
  • Hut of the year
  • Independent retailer of the year
  • Chain retailer of the year
  • Online retailer of the year
  • Brand of the year

Top tip: We want to know who you’ve nominated and why. The more convincing your nomination, the more likely your choice will be to make it through to the final vote and .

How the Outdoor Awards work

First we need to find our finalists. To do that, we ask our readers to nominate their favourite brands, stores, heroes and huts – that’s what we’re asking for now. From the nominations, we choose the finalists and then ask readers to vote for their favourite. 

Here’s he timeline:

September 9 – nominations close
October issue – finalists announced and voting for the winners begins
October 13 – voting closes
December issue – winners announced!

How to nominate

Just click here and begin nominating! Or fill in the survey below.

Here’s who won last time we ran the Outdoor Awards:

Wayne Martin, center, with staff at Bivouac’s Tower Junction store in Christchurch. Bivouac won the Chain Retailer of the Year Award. Photo: Dennis Radermacher
David, Michael and Jane Ellis – the fifth and sixth generations of the Ellis family to manufacture outdoor clothing. Their brand Earth Sea Sky won the Outdoor Brand of the YearPhoto: Dennis Radermacher
Newmarket-based Living Simply won the Independent Retailer of the Year Award. Photo: Supplied
Hamish Pirie of Gearshop.co.nz won the Online Retailer of the Year Award. Photo: Ray Salisbury
Nestled the shore of Lake Angelus, it’s easy to see why Angelus Hut was voted the Hut of the Year. Photo: Mimi Chiu
Geoff Spearpoint was the Outdoor Hero - recognised for his role in restoring backcountry huts so future generations may benefit from them. Photo: Hugh van Noorden