This is the night New Zealand’s best small businesses get their moment: The David Awards 2026 winners are revealed live, across all six categories, the Supreme Award and the People’s Choice Award. Whether you’ve followed this year’s finalists, backed a business in your own community, or you’re simply curious who’s come out on top, this is where you find out first.
For a list of the 2026 finalists, click here.
Small business panel discussion
Stay on after the Awards presentation for a panel discussion, with drinks and nibbles flowing throughout. An evening built for celebrating New Zealand’s small business community and connecting with the people in it.
Our panel of industry experts and notable small business owners will explore what it actually takes to build a small business that punches above its weight – against a tough economy and a tech landscape being reshaped by AI.
Meet out panel and MC for the evening:
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- Julia Grace is a multi award-winning international keynote speaker, Tui Award-winning recording artist, author, and Mental Health First Aid Instructor who brings neuroscience, story, and genuine lived experience to stages across corporate, conference, and education sectors. Named Keynote Speaker of the Year 2025 (PSANZ), Julia is recognised as one of the most distinctive voices in the mental health and wellbeing space today. With 1,000+ audiences across five continents over a 30-year career in performance and speaking, Julia delivers what most speakers in this space cannot: the perfect blend of clinical credibility, warmth, humour, and a genuinely unforgettable moment of live performance that sends audiences away changed. Author of Be Kind to Your Mind and a certified Mental Health First Aid Instructor, Julia speaks openly from her own lived experience of depression and anxiety. From boardrooms to conference mainstages, her sessions are high-energy, interactive, and expertly tailored, leaving people with tools they can use the moment they walk out the door.
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- Shyr Godfrey is the Co-owner and Co-founder of Forty Thieves Nut Butters. Together with her husband Brent, Shyr has built Forty Thieves into one of New Zealand’s leading premium nut butter brands. Their multi-award-winning range is now stocked in 500+ supermarkets nationwide and exported to Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong with Australia coming onboard in June. Shyr is a problem solver and true hustler with a creative approach to business. She has focused on shaping their family business into a values-driven brand with a strong identity. Through a community-focused marketing strategy, Forty Thieves has established itself as a trusted brand for adventure, performance, and everyday wellness. Shyr has built strong connections with key FMCG decision-makers and plays an integral part in the Forty Thieves expansion strategy globally. Most recently, Shyr launched a podcast – Smashing PBs, where she chats with inspiring Kiwis who are consistently showing up as their Personal Bests.
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- Richard Conway is an award-winning entrepreneur, digital marketing leader and Founder of The Optimisers, a search and performance agency helping organisations succeed across Google, AI platforms and the wider digital ecosystem. Originally from the UK, Richard moved to New Zealand in 2009 and founded Pure SEO, growing it into one of New Zealand’s largest and most awarded independent search agencies. He was a finalist in the EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards and, in 2026, was inducted into the IAB New Zealand Hall of Fame in recognition of his contribution to the country’s digital advertising industry. Richard is the author of How to Get to the Top of Google Search: A Practical Guide, published by Penguin Random House, and is a regular speaker and commentator on SEO, AI search, entrepreneurship and the future of digital marketing. An active investor and mentor, Richard has supported a number of technology businesses and previously served on the boards of Entrepreneurs’ Organisation New Zealand and The Well Foundation.
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- Anson Kong is the Founder of the multi-award-winning interior design and build studio Spacebar Design. With a strong background in commercial interiors, industrial design, and manufacturing, he has experienced firsthand the substantial waste generated by the industry. His passion for positive change led him to establish a creative studio that takes full responsibility for everything it creates. Ultimately, Spacebar Design exists to help people create beautiful interior spaces that last longer, adapt better, cost less over their lifetime, and generate less waste.
Free to attend, whether you’re in the room or joining us online – don’t miss your chance to celebrate the small businesses shaping New Zealand and hear what it takes to be one of them.
Live stream
Not able to make the in-person event? Register below for a link to a live stream of the winners presentation.
*Note: This form is only for the streamed event, if you wish to come to the in-person event you must select the ‘Get Tickets’ option on this page.
Principal sponsor
