She spoke to Glenn Conway about what the awards mean to her and what they have done for host town Gore and the wider fashion industry.
A sneak peek into Heather Paterson's diary each July must surely yield the entry: "Sleep next month."
Quite simply, it is a wonder if the dynamo behind the Peugeot Hokonui Fashion Design Awards stops for a breather at all during the month of the awards as she oversees the fine-tuning and last-minute details of an event that has developed, over the course of two decades, into one of the country's leading fashion events.
Several designers, now big in the industry, made their start at the Gore event and many others credit the awards for being the launching pad for bigger and better things in the fashion world.
Mrs Paterson joined the organising team as executive producer in 1995.
The buck stops with her and she certainly knows how to put on a show.
To say the awards and Mrs Paterson go together is like saying Versace could design a decent dress.
The pair have been virtually inseparable from day one.
Mrs Paterson modelled at the first awards in 1988 then entered the next year, dominating the show by winning five sections.
The following year, she went all the way, winning the overall title.
She took a year off but was asked to join the judging panel which she did for two years and eventually had her arm twisted to take over as executive producer.
"If I knew then what I knew now, I probably wouldn't have done it," she laughed this week as she and others put the final touches to the event.
Organising such a show takes huge effort and planning.
Encouraging the national fashion industry to take an interest in a small event held in a small town in the deep south was also a challenge, but the effort paid off.
People with an interest in fashion, brave enough to enter past award shows, have gone on to become designers in the industry, and leading fashion commentators are often lured south to judge.
It is guaranteed to always be "all right on the night" - two nights actually - but anyone who knows Mrs Paterson understands full well how much planning, co-ordination and hard work goes into ensuring the show goes smoothly.
She thinks about the awards constantly throughout the year, but the job becomes almost full-time in June and July, when entries start pouring in.
"It's a nice monster, and it's doing really well. I think we've been lucky to survive here, mainly because it is all kind of fresh and innocent compared with the events you find in the big cities."
The awards are important to her, but not as important as her family and friends.
In 2000, Mrs Paterson received the shock of her life when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Having to tell her parents and immediate family was "the cruellest thing you can imagine" but thankfully, she has been clear for six years and determined not to let that scare slow her down.
"I was very lucky, it was caught very early . . . but it does give you a fright and the thought of missing out on your family's future is scary.
"But I have seen my children marry and we have lovely grandchildren. So I'm very, very lucky."
Her pride and joy may be her family but for this weekend, the awards become her priority.
She freely acknowledges the event could, and should, be bigger in the years to come, hinting a review of the show is on the cards after the 20th anniversary celebrations die down.
"It can't get any bigger in Gore and I really think it could be bigger but that means taking it somewhere else."
Without saying it directly, she is referring to Invercargill, which could stage a much larger fashion show but still with all the ingredients mixed together in Gore.
"We've always said this is a Southland event and it will always stay in the deep South."
Finalists in this year's awards will be competing for a share of the $24,000 prize pool with the overall winner taking home a package worth more than $10,000.
Well known and respected fashion designers and sisters Margi Robertson, of Nom D, and Liz Findlay, of Zambesi, return to judge the awards this year.
They will be joined on the panel by Annah Stretton, of Annah S, a first-time visitor to the awards who is not only well known for her fashion label but has also won several business awards.
She is also the owner of Her magazine.
Rex Turnbull, who returns for his fifth stint on the judging panel, is very well known in the fashion and art world and last year was made a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce.
Completing the panel is Auckland designer Michael Pattison, a past entrant in the awards, gaining recognition over several years.
