A Wanaka public relations professional has won an award in recognition of her work with the motorsport industry.

Kate Gordon-Smith, principal at Relish Communications, won the Motorsport PR Communicator of the Year award at the Motorsport New Zealand media awards, held in Wellington on Saturday May 26.

This award, which was created in 2016, recognises specialised publicists who work with competitors, events, championships and sponsors around New Zealand to help generate media coverage of motorsport.

Kate won the award for her work with Kiwi rally driver Dave Holder and rally-turned-rallycross driver Sloan Cox.

The independent judge, an experienced sports publicist, said: "Sometimes in this industry, the tough jobs are when the story needs to be sold and not automatically grabbed by mainstream. Kate achieved mainstream television cover by offering an exclusive arrangement and followed this with a well-written story. It was well illustrated and achieved good cut-through on social media channels.”

Kate moved to Wanaka with her husband Jeff Smith, who is a partner at the Butchers Block and Smokehouse, in 2015. Motorsport is one of her specialities, and her best-known client is New Zealand WRC driver Hayden Paddon, who lives in Wanaka when he’s in New Zealand.

Kate has also worked for Motorsport New Zealand as a communications consultant since 2015, and was delighted to win the award.

"Essentially, it’s been wonderful to have recognition from my peers and colleagues from a sport I’ve been involved in for a long time,” she said.

Kate was quick to point out that she is not the first Wanaka local to win this award - Catherine Pattison from Lake Hawea won it in 2017 for her work with rally driver Emma Gilmour.

PHOTO: Geoff Ridder