The annual Sir Peter Blake Leadership Awards have been taking place since 2005 and recognise outstanding New Zealand leaders who follow in the footsteps of Sir Peter and continue to exemplify his extraordinary kiwi ‘can do’ spirit. The 2017 Blake Leader Awards winners will be announced on 16 June.
The Sir Peter Blake Young Leader Award, in association with Westpac, recognises young people who have shown promising leadership in their schools and communities. The award is given to one student in each primary and intermediate school that participates, as selected by teachers and peers.
In 2016 Westpac staff across New Zealand presented the award to over than 450 students.
The Sir Peter Blake Trust Dream Team is an exclusive group of inspirational Kiwi leaders who every year aim to inspire thousands of Kiwi kids to follow their dreams. They tell their stories, plant seeds of inspiration, and encourage young New Zealanders to have big dreams and back themselves to make them happen.
The theme for 2016 was #believeyoucan, taken directly from Sir Peter’s last voyage when he wrote, ‘To win, you have to believe you can do it’. A number of Westpac staff members take part in the Dream Team and in 2016 visited 31 schools, helping to encourage Kiwis to back themselves to achieve their dreams - just as Sir Peter Blake did.
Having sailed around the world five times and clocked up over half a million nautical miles, Sir Peter’s special focus for the environment was on water. As such, the Trust runs environmental programmes to encourage awareness of our marine environment. There are a number of practical initiatives taking place, including the Care for our Coast programme that helps to safeguard its future.
Westpac is the foundation partner of the Sir Peter Blake Trust. Inspired by Sir Peter Blake himself, we like to get involved with the Sir Peter Blake Trust on a very practical level.