The award was for the best creative summary of a long-term council community plan (LTCCP), a 10-year planning document which councils were required to update this year.
Waitaki's tabloid publication Waitaki Express was "a low budget exercise run on the smell of a recycled oily rag" when compared to others' efforts, Waitaki's chief executive Michael Ross said yesterday.
The publication, distributed to every household in the Waitaki district, summarised in a well-illustrated, entertaining and easily digested form the council's plan for the next 10 years.
It was so successful that people who made submissions on the plan turned up at hearings with it.
It generated more than 400 submissions - the highest ever received by the council on an LTCCP.
"That in itself was impressive for a plan without any real controversial items," Mr Ross said.
Most residents and ratepayers did not read the several hundred pages of the formal LTCCP so the summary was very important and had to be accessible to everyone, he said.
