Nigel Gray Award 

From Left: Dr Ron Borland  Shane Kawenata Bradbrook  Dr Nigel Gray MD

Ka nui te mihi mō te hōnore o tenei tohu ki te whānau Tupeka-Auahi Kore me Smokefree!

It was an honour and privilege to be awarded by Dr Nigel Gray MD with the Award that bears his name at the Oceania Conference held in Darwin AUS in October 2009.

Nigel is considered to be the 'father' of advocacy and so was touched by his kind words and support prior to receiving this medal. Have also been moved by all the well-wishes from around the motu! Kia ora koutou!

A number of firsts occurred in receiving this Award: first Māori/Indigenous person, New Zealander, non PhD/Dr and advocate. I hope that I am not the last to get such an honour and look forward to seeing other colleagues get this acknowledgement in the near future. I hope it somehow inspires others to keep up all the hard work we put into this kaupapa.

I also mindful that I am just one in a long line of other workers from our community that have contributed to Māori public health and in the tobacco resistance arena. Ngā mihi ki a koutou!

It can be said that we are not in this mahi for the awards or recognition and so it was a proud moment to be bestowed with this Award as the NZ contingent climbed into the haka 'Ka mate' with the all the vigour and vitality that made it both a memorable and humble moment to remember for my life-time.

I would also like to take this time to publicly acknowledge all our sectors workforce and the work we all do as 'unsung heroes' for our communities. I definitely see this Award as a collective recognition and not as an individual!

Information

Dr Nigel Gray MD

Dr Nigel Gray MD is seen as a founding father of the international tobacco control movement. He is a dynamic author, advocate, scientist and mentor to generations of the global tobacco control leaders.

He has laboured for the past 40 years to combine behavioural research, measurement of smoking rates, and brilliant advocacy to thwart incursions of tobacco into Australia's populations. In addition to leading the effort for the benchmark 1987 legislation that banned ads and promotio. One of his greatest insights was designing an approach to tax tobacco sponsorship of athletic and cultural events. This type of legislation spread throughout Australia, NZ and globally.

Nigel was former President of the International Union Against Cancer (UICC), a visiting scientist at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Director of the Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria and a paediatrician by training.

The Award

The Award recognises an individual's contribution in tobacco control, with a bias towards recognition of relatively 'unsung heroes'. People working in tobacco control in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific were eligible for the nomination.

Depth of achievement at a local, regional, national and international levels were considered along with a criterion that includes:

• creativity
• persistence
• effectiveness
• contribution is to change
• skill in application ore generation of evidence and argument for tobacco control

Recipients include: Dr Michelle Scollo (2005), Dr Melanie Wakefield, Dr Caleb Otto (2007) and Prof Konrad Jamrozik (2009).

Nā reira, tēnā koutou katoa!