2025
Awards

Tohu Raukura ā-Motu – NZ Police National Champion’s Award

For the overall winner of the 2024 Race Unity Speech Awards.

Raukura: feather plume, treasure. Recognising leadership, talent & achievement ā-Motu: national

Ormiston Senior College, Auckland

Tohu Eke Panuku – Human Rights Commission Award for Impact

For a speaker providing an effective practical suggestion for ending racism and improving race relations in Aotearoa.

Eke panuku: to hit home, win, gain victory, successfully overcome, to succeed, achieve, can be related to working through issues to achieve the appropriate solution.

Manukura School, Palmerston North

Tohu Ahurea Rau – Multicultural NZ Award for Diversity

For a speaker who fosters empathy and understanding of the cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity of Aotearoa. 

Rau: hundreds or many. Ahurea: culture – carries connotations of coming together.

Diocesan School for Girls, Auckland

Tohu Whetumatarau – Ministry for Ethnic Communities Award for Vision

For a speaker who helps us envision Aotearoa’s future as a multicultural society founded on Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Whetumatarau: many-pointed star – carries connotations of being aspirational for the future, doing or achieving great things.

Ormiston Senior College, Auckland

Tohu Auahatanga – Speech NZ Award for Delivery

For a speaker whose creative and engaging delivery captures the audience’s attention.

Auaha: Creativity, to shape, create, form, fashion, innovate

Diocesan School for Girls, Auckland

RACE UNITY
SPEECH AWARDS

The Race Unity Speech Awards were initiated by the New Zealand Bahá’í Community in 2001 in support of Race Relations Day (21 March).

Speech topic 2024: Te Taura Tangata – The Rope of Unity.

We are wonderfully diverse, yet there is only one race: the human race. This is not just a biological fact. The wellbeing and progress of all parts of humanity are inextricably linked, like the fingers of one hand. Conflict holds back the progress of our species; cooperation and reciprocity are the true basis of human civilisation. Mutual support and cooperation is needed, not just among different groups of people, but between the individual, the community, and the institutions of society. In this vision of the human race, everyone has their own role to play in the eradication of racial prejudice and injustice, and the establishment of true unity.

For 24 years the Race Unity Speech Awards have opened the way for students to share their vision for race unity, and for 24 and courage. So, what will you do to move the waka of humanity forward towards race unity?

Read more →

RACE UNITY
HUI

Race Unity Hui are run in conjunction with the Speech Awards to give all young people an opportunity to be heard on race relations issues.

Race Unity Hui are spaces where young people advance the conversation about race relations in Aotearoa. This year we’re inviting all young people aged 15-30 to deepen their understanding of race issues and speak their mindson how we can become more just and unified as a society.

Read more →

Information for teachers

We’ve developed a pack of resources to help teachers support students interested in the Race Unity Speech Awards and Hui. These resources can also be used for any class or group of students interested in exploring contemporary race relations issues.

The Speech Awards provide an opportunity for students to develop the key competencies outlined in the curriculum:

• Thinking skills – learning to use creative, critical, and meta-cognitive processes to make sense of information, experiences and ideas.

• Managing self – self-motivation, a “can-do” attitude, and with students seeing themselves as capable learners.

• Relating to others – the ability to listen actively, recognise different points of view, negotiate, and share ideas.

• Participating and contributing – developing the capacity to contribute appropriately as a group member, to make connections with others in the group.  

The Race Unity Hui is also a great opportunity for students to learn about race relations issues. In past years a number of teachers have brought whole classes of students to the Hui, with great benefits for the students and the others attending the Hui.

Participation in the Speech Awards and Hui can be used as the basis for assessments and classroom activities in a range of subject areas, such as English, te reo Māori and Social Studies.