Keewai, a brand developed by forestry company ErnslawOne, received the Bite Gourmet award at a function in Auckland this week.
Mr Hollows described it as very unexpected, saying he felt both humbled and surprised.
"This award is huge. It opens up a lot of opportunities for us," he said.
It was in a very competitive category, which reflected the quality of the product, and the ErnslawOne team had put in much hard work to get the project to where it was today, he said.
ErnslawOne diversified into farming koura using fire ponds in its forests throughout Otago and Southland, as well as creating new ponds, after log prices dropped during the global financial crisis.
This spurred the company to look at ways of creating income but it had not been an easy undertaking and had never been done on such a scale before, Mr Hollows said.
Keewai continued to supply the Hilton Queenstown and other opportunities were being looked at for the coming season, including the export market.
Demand for the product was huge so it was a matter of where best to send it, Mr Hollows said. He had had some promising initial discussions with some Auckland chefs who were "very keen" on the product.
ErnslawOne was building more ponds, which now numbered about 1800 "or so", he said.
There were a record number of entries in this year’s New Zealand Food Awards, which were held in association with Massey University.
The supreme award was won by Coastal Spring Lamb.
