Women in Security Awards Aotearoa return for 2023

Aotearoa New Zealand’s own Women in Security Awards return for a fourth year, retaining its fierce independence and introducing ground breaking new award categories reflecting the current threats we face.

Defsec Media Limited, the New Zealand Security Sector Network (NZSSN), and Women in Security & Resilience Alliance (WISECRA) are pleased to announce that nominations for the 2023 Women in Security Awards Aotearoa are now being accepted.

The Women in Security Awards Aotearoa (WiSAA) initiative was established in 2020 to promote the role of women in sectors where they are still significantly under-represented, and to recognise women who are advancing Aotearoa New Zealand’s security, risk and resilience sectors.

“What makes WiSAA uniquely special is the fact that it cuts across security domain boundaries and across the public, private, and community sectors in a way that no other awards programme in our sector does,” said NZSM chief editor Nicholas Dynon. “The awards are also famously independent, which means no sponsorships, no paid promotions, no gala award events, and no trophies.”

“This year we’re retiring our old cohort of award categories in favour of what we believe to be a revolutionary new approach in which our nine categories correspond to the protection of New Zealanders from particular threats,” said Nicholas.

“Identifying the right categories was by no means an exact science, but the process did take into account the results of the National Security Public Survey, the current National Security Intelligence Priorities, and the weight of recent public discourse.”

And the categories are:

1. Preventing retail and violent crime

2. Securing organisations and infrastructure

3. Disrupting information and cyber threats

4. Countering incivility and violent extremism

5. Confronting bullying and online harm

6. Combatting fraud and misrepresentation

7. Protecting borders, trade, and biosecurity

8. Responding to natural disaster events

9. Building resilient communities

Nominees must be women, or identify as women, with more than three years of experience in any occupation within either the physical security, personnel security, information security, cybersecurity, investigations, intelligence, risk management, emergency management or resilience domains, and be actively practising in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Nominations are encouraged from across the private, public (including government, education, military, and law enforcement) and community sectors. It is important to note that these awards are open to the broader security sector, not just ‘industry’. Self-nominations are welcomed.

Nominations will be assessed on the extent to which the nominee’s efforts over the past 18 months reflect the values articulated in the category descriptions (refer to website below).

The deadline for nominations is 4:00pm, Friday 10 November 2023, and nominations of no more than 1,000 words (including supporting material) are to be emailed to editor@defsec.net.nz.

For more information, including detailed descriptions of each award category, visit https://defsec.net.nz/women-in-security-aotearoa/.

A judging panel of eminent sector professionals is set to be announced in mid-October, and winners will be announced via the Defsec Media Limited website on 01 December.