Mr Dingle, a mountaineer, adventurer and writer perhaps best known for founding the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre, visited Sir Eion at the weekend to present the award.
The personal touch extended to the award itself: hand-made by Mr Dingle, it consists of a piece of West Coast pounamu mounted on a plaque of taraire timber from his Kaipara property.
Sir Eion said he became involved with the Project K youth development programme soon after it was founded by Mr Dingle and lawyer Jo-anne Wilkinson about 20 years ago.
Designed to help young people lacking in self-confidence to reach their full potential, it had proved ''remarkably successful''.
He had been drawn to the pair's vision because of their ''undoubted enthusiasm and success''.
''They were both very determined and yet very practical about it - you couldn't help but think if anyone's going to succeed, these two will.''
He was ''extremely humbled'' by the award.
''It's been nice to help, but compared to what they've done, my contribution has been very small.''
''To be honest, I'm not in total disagreement with the objective Environment Southland are working towards. It's about how you get there and how long it takes.''
Clutha-Southland MP Todd Barclay said the submissions process was ''the best possible avenue to elevate any concerns members of the community may have''.
Submissions close on November 3.
