New Zealand's most beautiful city has been named, and the judges say it was a hard decision.
The winners were chosen by the Keep New Zealand Beautiful group, and announced on Friday evening.
The top prize for most beautiful city went to Masterton, with Greytown and Feilding winning most beautiful small and large towns, respectively.
"Masterton blew away the judges with their wide range of environmental and heritage conservation projects, and the strength of their community engagement, with numerous community groups working hard to make Masterton a safer and more beautiful community," the groups said.
They also complimented the "small-town atmosphere" of Fielding, and called Greytown a "gem of the Wairarapa".
The judging panel said there were very strong submissions across all categories, which made selecting the winners incredibly hard.
"The Beautiful Awards celebrate all contributions great and small - from the most beautiful city, to the volunteer who single-handedly collected over 700kg of rubbish this year," said Keep New Zealand Beautiful CEO Heather Saunderson.
"These awards recognise the places, businesses and people who do the right thing day in and day out to Keep New Zealand Beautiful.
"We are incredibly proud of the Beautiful Awards and look forward to continuing to grow these awards in 2018."
Newshub.
