So, it’s New Year’s Eve, and the honours for 2025 have been announced. There’s a kind of quirk with the whole hierarchy of the honours, which I’m not sure I’d necessarily change, but it’s worth noting.

It starts with the Knights and Dames, then moves on to the Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit, then the Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit, followed by the King’s Service Order, and finally, at the bottom of the hierarchy, is the King’s Service Medal.

And it’s here, I think, that you often find a remarkable collection of people who have given their time for years and years—almost always on a voluntary basis—and are finally being rewarded for their service.

Often for the awards higher up the hierarchy, the recipients are being recognised for things they’ve already been well-rewarded for, and the honours are simply the icing on the cake. But with the King’s Service Medals, it’s usually for years of service without any extrinsic reward.

When I say extrinsic reward, I really mean to highlight that these people have likely been rewarded through the satisfaction, joy, or meaning they derive from the service they have given.

Whether it’s in the performing arts, emergency services, the SPCA, conservation, sport, youth services, or specific communities within New Zealand, the recipients of the King’s Service Medal are usually people who have simply given of themselves. It’s an impressive and inspiring list of people who have given of themselves to make a tangible difference.

If you ever have the chance to go to an award ceremony, it’s really something I would highly recommend, because it really is quite something to see New Zealanders from a wide range of backgrounds rewarded for years of service. When the achievements, lists, or citations are read out, it’s just such a heartening moment to see, and it gives you a lovely insight into what it means to be a New Zealander giving something back to your community.

But regardless of whichever award you have received—whether you be a famous king or queen of the world in a sport you have dominated, or someone who has given 40 years of service as a volunteer to the SPCA—congratulations and thank you.

NZ wouldn’t be what it is without you.