Judge's comments:

Ma ngā pepeha ka mārama he iwi mātou o tātou tīpuna, o tātou whenua.
Through pepeha we understand we are people of our ancestors and of our land.

Pepeha are a way of introducing yourself by expressing your ancestral and personal connections to mountains, rivers, oceans, villages and people – expressing both where you come from, and who you come from.

Pepeha recognise we are all tangata whenua somewhere, we all have ancestral connections to places and people that define who we are, and how we connect.

This highly crafted and well considered project makes pepeha accessible to all and in doing so, enhances our sense of identity as citizens of Aotearoa.

This project speaks directly to our Aotearoaness and presents it in a beautiful way every New Zealander can engage with.

The judges like the inclusive way ‘pepeha’ engages people in use of te reo Māori, not just as a set of words, but in a personally meaningful way that can be translated into beutifully crafted personal or family artefacts.