Sparks Interactive - Auckland CBD

The 2018 winners of the New Zealand Open Source Awards were announced at the gala dinner held at Te Papa in Wellington on 23 October 2018. 

Sparks Interactive had put forward our development of the Sector distribution and our work for Forest & Bird as an example of how a commitment to open source could drive economic benefits and better business outcomes for clients operating in a competitive commercial environment.

Given the stellar work of the other nominees, and the range of innovation and ground-breaking thinking on show cross the board that night, we were both humbled and incredibly proud to be chosen as the winner of the Open Source Use in Business category.

As first on the podium that night, we kept our speech short and sweet. However, this recognition is incredibly important to us, and our local open source community, so our thoughts are expanded on as follows.

"Thank you to the NZ Open Source Awards and the open source community for this award. 

I’d especially like to thank Heike, who has lead our Sector product team, and Brent who leads the Wellington team along with Tom, Daniel and Nigel who have been working hard to define, design and build that product. And big thanks to Kirk and Phil and the Forest and Bird team who have been with us a long time, and inspire us to deliver for the greater good.

Working with clients like Forest and Bird make us better at what we do, and better people for it. They challenge us to deliver more, and operating at the pointy end of the commercial market keeps us focused on delivering maximum practical value. It keeps things very real!

An Open Source approach has changed not just what we work on, but how we work. Not just code, but every aspect of how we work, from costing through managing to providing long term support has been thought through. Everything is questioned - how is this useful, not just for us, but for other people.

We’re fortunate to be surrounded by a great community here in Wellington, and a leading Drupal community here in New Zealand and Australasia. We share in the work of others, learn from them and share back in turn. There is 5, 10 years of history in every new thing we do. Thank you to our friends.

That community has redefined our relationship with our work, as an organisation and the individuals within it. Open Source is a power multiplier, that enables a small independent studio like Sparks to work alongside the best in the world, and bring the benefits of million-dollar web development to market - in a way that makes sense for not-for-profits and small orgs who have a social responsibility to spend every dollar wisely. 

Being open, and sharing, keeps us honest, keeps us striving for the best - and keeps delivering better, more sustainable, more effective results for our clients. Thanks!"