As one of the winners of the SASD 2022 award, I still feel enormously proud of winning the award. I don't think the feeling will ever go away. I was up against tough competition from other exemplary individuals and leading teams from other universities and organisations. It's just wonderful to be recognised for the efforts and milestones I was brave enough to make visible to everyone. Winning this award has inspired me to continue my enthusiasm and move forward with my efforts which will hopefully bring further possibilities throughout my career. This is an award that doesn't just only celebrate what someone or a group of people have done, but the passionate efforts made towards innovation that impact on the education of others. I went to win this award last year, and I strongly encourage others to submit an entry that demonstrates your most innovative practice. If you're not sure on what you could submit, look at what previous candidates did and think about how your own practices could be presented.

When I decided to enter Smart Aotearoa last year, it was for the experience of taking part in an event focused on new ideas in sustainable development. My hope was that it would motivate me to work on a more innovative project than I had previously, as well as to engage with people who are actively looking for ways of building a more sustainable future ‒ and this is exactly what it did! Much to my surprise, our research on tracking learner development in sustainability received an award. It’s wonderful of course to see your work being recognised, but I really didn’t expect something as abstract as our research topic to win anything. In any case, it was great fun from the outset, and I particularly enjoyed being able to showcase the project to a keen and sympathetic audience. What's more, it has inspired me to keep researching in the fields of education, technological application and sustainable development, no matter how unpromising the topic may seem at first.