Winner of:
Excellence in Digital Local Government Award

Buzzly – Aotearoa’s digital youth engagement and insights platform

Buzzly is Aotearoa’s digital youth engagement and insights platform, specifically designed to bridge the gap between young people and local government. Developed collaboratively by Auckland Council, Datacom, AWS, and Mission Ready HQ, Buzzly transforms traditional youth consultations into interactive, and incentivised digital experiences.

Through creative “Challenges,” Buzzly empowers youth to contribute opinions on issues like climate change, health, elections, transport, and education. Every idea is rewarded, incentivising participation and ensuring diverse voices are heard. The platform leverages AI-driven analytics to analyse submissions and generate insights, enabling local governments to make more informed decisions.

Buzzly is a scalable solution that modernises civic engagement, moving beyond traditional consultation methods. It ensures inclusive participation by providing a safe, accessible, and youth-friendly space for input. Since its launch, Buzzly has demonstrated strong engagement, rewarding over 400 youth contributions and providing valuable insights for council projects.

By integrating technology with social innovation, Buzzly redefines youth engagement and creates a model that can be adopted by other local authorities looking to digitise and enhance their consultation processes.

See more award winning entries

Excellence in Organisation and People Development

Reimaginging Work

Whakatāne District Council
Whakatāne District Council has reimagined work. What began as a building refurbishment in response to required earthquake strengthening work resulted in a seismic shift in how we work. We realised
Award Year: 2024
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Excellence in Cost-Effectiveness

Climate Resilience versus Recovery Costs for Transport Networks

Auckland Transport
Auckland Transport analysed 215 landslides from 2023 storms, showing prevention is far more cost effective than recovery. Preventative works cost as little as 15–30% of recovery, aligning with global findings.
Award Year: 2026
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Excellence in Organisation and People Development

 Whangārei’s Organisational Strategy

Whangārei District Council
The Whangārei Organisational Strategy is a ground-up development to build a more inclusive, cohesive and effective organisation. The strategy had been driven (somewhat unusually) by the second and third tier
Award Year: 2021
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