NZACS Peter Jowett Scholarship winners named - Convenience & Impulse Retailing

The New Zealand Association of Convenience Stores (NZACS) has held its Peter Jowett Scholarship and awards night at the Hilton on Auckland’s Princes Wharf.

Kathlynn Lee from bp was named the winner and Fernand Dignadice from Frucor Suntory was the runner up. Both have won a trip to Las Vegas to attend the NACS Industry Trade Show in October.

Finalists, which included Lee and Dignadice, along with Hannah-Rose Luskie, James Gilmour, and Brooke Bennet Hati all from BAT NZ, and Martha Hudson from bp, all gave standout presentations on the competition question for 2022…

You have been given a project involving category, marketing, and operations. Your task is to take any existing category in convenience other than fuel or tobacco and re-invent or revolutionise it.

Following two years of Covid-related disruption, NZACS was delighted to come together once again, with more than 100 members attending in the afternoon to support and judge the PJ Scholarship finalists.

Dave Hooker, Executive Director, NZACS, said: “We were thrilled to have over 100 people in the audience for the six Peter Jowett finalists in the afternoon plus 130 for the evening awards night. The presentations were innovative and varied in their approach to a challenging topic. All finalists did an excellent job of presenting and should be commended for the work they put into this competition.”

The evening NZACS Awards featured Ben Hurley as guest MC who created a relaxed and humorous atmosphere. It was the largest turnout in years with almost 130 members and Hooker said that it was pleasing to see everyone enjoy the opportunity to network together.

“It’s been an extremely challenging couple of years for our suppliers and retailers and our intention was to celebrate being back together and recognise excellence within the industry,” he said.

Award Winners:

Best Service to Store (Packaged Products):

Winner: Coca-Cola Europacific Partners NZ