The Judges

We have over 70 local judges and 10-15 international judges.

The local judges have a wealth of experience as Founders, Entrepreneurs, CEOs, Advisers and Investors. Many of our judges have scaled businesses internationally and have over the years even been entrants/finalists/winners in the Hi-Tech Awards.

Our international judges bring a real global perspective and are made up of successful ex-pat Kiwi’s and Global Investors who have decades of international experience but also appreciate the Kiwi ethos of how we do business.

Each year we review and re-fresh our line up of our judges with a very key lens on diversity/ inclusiveness and relevance to changing market condition.

If you are interested in becoming one of our judges please email info@hitech.org.nz with a short background on yourself and what you can potentially bring to the judging process.

The Judging Process

In the majority of categories there are two rounds of judging.

The first round to select the finalists is based purely on the information provided in your written entry. Your entry will be reviewed and rated by six local judges who will collectively decide on selecting the finalists of which there will be a maximum of six in each category.

Once the finalists have been selected an international judge is assigned to each category to work with the local judges prior to the second round of judging.

The second round of panel judging (of the finalists) is face-to-face and each finalist gets 30mins with the judges. We strongly encourage finalists to attend in person rather than remotely. Once the second round of judging is completed the local judges work together with the assigned international judge to select the winner

There are a few categories that do not involve a second round of panel judging. These are:

• Most Inspiring Individual Category - The Hi-Tech Trustees determine a short list of finalists. These finalists are then interviewed by an independent writer and all asked the same questions. The writer then compiles the submissions. Then a panel of our three international judges choose a winner based on the contents of the submission
• Best Contribution to the NZ Tech Sector category - This category is judged purely on the written entry by a panel of local judges
• Company of the Year category - This category is judged purely on the written entry and judged solely by a group of our most senior international judges. Each category is judged by a unique set of judges who only judge that particular category.

Judging Confidentiality

 All judges work under NDA and they only have access to entries during the judging process.

Conflict of Interest

New Zealand is a small place and inevitably at times our judges may have a conflict real or perceived. We mitigate this by having six local judges in each category. In addition, all judges are asked to declare any perceived potential conflict of interest before they embark on their judging and before they can access any entries. Any conflict of interest is considered and ruled on by the lead judge in each category and if need be by the Convenor of Judges.