Mr Bell was scheduled to present the Gore District Council’s Auaha Award at Saturday night’s gala evening.
He was waiting backstage to present the trophy, Mr Bell said.
"They didn’t have the trophy there so by the time they figured out where the trophy was, it was already past my turn to present the award."
The winners of the award, Wellington East Girls' College pupils Nan Walden, Eva Mokalai, Sylvie Hardie-Boys, Issy Taylor and Fendi Von Hoff were not there to collect their award.
"That also added to the confusion," Mr Bell said.
When Mr Bell did not appear on stage with the trophy, the models finished walking the catwalk and compere Hilary Barry moved on to the next award presentation.
The pupils’ garments were entered in the collection’s award open section.
The awards committee put an apology on their Facebook page "which was really nice of them".
After the show, Mr Bell was photographed with the models who wore the garments.
Awards entries co-ordinator Bronnie Grant said the trophy had been accidentally given to someone else due to a change in the running order.
"It was a mistake by us. It was nothing to do with Ben."
The committee had apologised to Mr Bell.
