The 2015 recipients were Dr Roslyn Kemp (39), senior lecturer in microbiology and immunology, Dr Rachel Zajac (39), senior lecturer in psychology, Associate Prof Christine Jasoni (49), of the department of anatomy, and Associate Prof Jacinta Ruru (40), of the faculty of law, the latter receiving the kaupapa Maori award.
Vice-chancellor Prof Harlene Hayne congratulated the award winners at a function in their honour this week.
Dr Zajac was recognised for her accessibility, enthusiasm, and humour as a teacher, while helping students bridge the gap between psychological science and its application; Dr Kemp for innovative and creative teaching of immunology; Prof Jasoni for her outstanding ability to relate to her audience, and to engage with them enthusiastically.
Prof Ruru had challenged the teaching of law to create culturally safe and stimulating indigenous learning opportunities for law scholars, particularly Maori students, award officials said.
Recipients of the three general awards and the kaupapa Maori award each receive a certificate and $7500 to support their learning and teaching.
Prof Ruru was excited and honoured to receive a ''really significant award''.
She had always put ''a lot of care and thought'' into developing her teaching, and she emphasised the value of the feedback she had received from students.
The university's ''No 1 business'' was teaching'' to help develop young people into ''productive members of society'', she said.
Dr Kemp was ''hugely excited'' by the award. She said she loved teaching students at Otago, who came from throughout the country and from all walks of life.
She worked ''really hard'' to try to make her teaching fun, interesting and informative and was also trying to teach students ''how to become scientific''.
The university emphasised research productivity, especially for academic staff, but undergraduates were ''the next generation of researchers'', she said.
Dr Zajac said the award was a ''great vote of confidence'' which would inspire her to improve further.
Academics faced frequent rejections - ''from funding bodies, journals and so on'', and often ''those negatives'' were remembered rather than the positives, she said.
It was important to recognise teaching because ''in this research-driven climate'' the fear was that teaching was becoming ''a box that we tick, rather than an area in which we strive to excel'', she said.