Wanaka will host 130 of New Zealand's best volunteers and many of the country's mayors this weekend for the 2007 TrustPower National Community Awards.
It is the first time the community awards final has been held in Wanaka.
It comprises a series of 10-minute presentations by 23 groups from 8.30am today at Mt Aspiring College before an awards presentation in the evening at the New Zealand Fighter Pilots Museum.
The TrustPower National Community Awards are in their eighth year and are run in conjunction with local authorities.
They follow a series of regional finals held throughout the country last year, with Otago's representatives being the Gibbston Valley Association, the Central Otago Rail Trail Trust, the Yellow Eyed Penguin Trust, the Palmerston Mini Show and Project Clutha.
Westland will be represented by the Bruce Bay Sports Committee while Pregnancy Help Inc represents Invercargill.
Also attending are groups from Wellington, Western Bay of Plenty, Grey District, Rotorua, Buller, Taupo, Timaru, Tauranga, Marlborough, Waitakere, Wairoa, Nelson Tasman, Ashburton, Tararua, Waipa and Palmerston North.
The Gibbston Community Association was a finalist in 2003 and is the only finalist to have been selected twice.
The winner will receive $2500, a framed certificate, a trophy, and a prize package from Foresee Communications. The runner-up receives $1500 and a certificate.
Nominations are open for the 2008 awards to be held in March 2009.
