After the Gore District Council made the decision to no longer host the Gore community awards, the Gore Soroptomists took on the responsibility, and ran their own event at the Gore Racing Club, holding a dinner and a ceremony for the occasion.
Secretary Anne Gover said the event sold out, and was such a fantastic night it left everyone wanting more.
"It proved so popular that every single person there commented on what a great evening it was, and asked us to do it next year,
"It was a brilliant night, people around us didn’t seem to want to go home," she said.
Five women were nominated for Woman of the Year: Heather Tripp, Annette Ainge, Karen Nicholson, Nicky Coats and the winner Carol Dawson. All the nominations came in recognition of many years given in service to the community.
Mrs Gover said the nominees were all remarkable and deserved to be celebrated.
"I think it just shows the nature of women in Gore. All of them could have been winners, but we could only have one. It was a very strong year," she said.
The award went to Carol Dawson, in recognition for her volunteer work with Eastern Southland Riding for the Disabled as well as other endeavours.
Mrs Dawson said it came as a surprise to be nominated, and then to win with such a strong field of women being celebrated.
"I was blown away. Any one of them could have walked off with it because they’re all so involved in different facets of the community,
"They’re all awesome ladies. I sort of felt really lousy that there was only one prize, though, because they all do deserve to win," she said.
Mrs Dawson said the awards being continued by the Soroptomists was great for Gore.
"It’s really, really awesome. They’re there to enrich the lives of women and girls in their community.
"It’s fabulous that they’ve taken up with that and continued with the awards," she said.
