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Who better to receive a Duke of Edinburgh award from than the duke himself?
Former Blue Mountain College teacher Vicki Crawford had the honour of receiving the Duke of Edinburgh's International Award Aotearoa NZ Hillary Award for exceptional service from Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, on November 18.
Mrs Crawford was one of six from throughout the country recognised with the award.
She was invited to attend a cocktail party at Government House being hosted by Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro, Mrs Crawford said.
She was told she had been nominated for an exceptional service award and an international VIP would be in attendance.
She was also instructed not to tell anyone.
She and husband Lennox arrived at Government House, and were ushered down a corridor to the ballroom.
The guests were given refreshments and then the recipients and their partners were taken to a side room.
Dame Cindy came into the room with husband Dr Richard Davies and Prince Edward.
After chatting to the recipients the group moved back into the ballroom where the awards ceremony was held.
The whole experience was "mind-blowing."
"It was quite surreal
"You felt like queen for a day."
The event was part of the 60th celebration of the awards and it was "special" to receive the award from Prince Edward.
Mrs Crawford was the teacher in charge of the Hillary Awards at the college for about 15 years and in that time had supervised more than 100 pupils as they progressed from bronze to silver to achieving a gold award.
Ninety percent of the pupils achieved gold in that time.
While it was nice to be recognised, it was more about the hard work pupils at the college had put in to achieve results, Mrs Crawford said.
She had also experienced the old saying "it takes a village to raise a child" during her time supervising the awards, she said.
"The community has offered opportunities for the kids, parents have supported me in a triangle with the kids.
"The gratefulness and the pride for me is that yes I got that award but actually the award is an award for all of those that I’ve worked with and worked alongside and who have helped me in the journey support those kids in West Otago."
In 2019, Mrs Crawford received a Duke of Edinburgh Hillary long service award from Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy.