Roger_Award

Roger Award

The Roger Award For The Worst Transnational Corporation Operating in New Zealand was an annual media campaign run since 1997 by two activist organisations, Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa and GATT Watchdog. The winners were chosen by a group of academics, activists, businesspeople and trade unionists.[1]

The Roger Award.

In April 2018 it was announced the 2016 Roger Award would be the final award, due to a declining number of nominations.[2]

Background

The awards bear the name of former New Zealand Finance Minister Sir Roger Douglas, who introduced far reaching market-oriented reforms in the 1980s (also taken into account during the naming decision were New Zealand Business Roundtable director Roger Kerr, the verb "to roger", and the term "Jolly Roger").[3][4] These changes, reinforced by successor Ruth Richardson in the 1990s, made the country's economy one of the most open in the world. Through this period, the role and profile of multinational companies increased. The privatisation of Tranz Rail and Telecom New Zealand, companies that have won multiple Roger Awards, remain particularly controversial - since being given their first awards, they have been re-nationalised and unbundled respectively.

The Roger Award has been used as the model for similar campaigns overseas.

Criteria

The winner was selected by evaluation of the judges made on four criteria, "Economic dominance"; "Impact on people"; "Environmental damage and abuse of animals"; and "Political interference". This last criterion was judged on the basis of whether the nominee is "running an ideological crusade".

Having "won" on three occasions, Tranz Rail was inducted into the 'Hall of Shame' in 2003. It has ceased to exist having been absorbed by Toll NZ, a two-time nominee, and subsequently nationalised as KiwiRail by the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand. Telecom New Zealand was nominated each year since 1997, and has since been succeeded by Chorus Limited and Spark New Zealand.

Past winners

More information Year, Winner ...

References

  1. Richards, Chris (June 2004). "Interview about: the roger award". New Internationalist. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
  2. Choudry, Aziz (2 May 2001). "NEW ZEALAND: Battling to derail the TNCs". Green Left Weekly. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
  3. Choudry, Aziz (April 2001). "Battling to derail the TNCs in New Zealand". Retrieved 25 May 2008.
  4. "Roger Award for 1997". Watchdog. 87. June 1998. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014 via Scribd.
  5. "Roger Award for 1998". Watchdog. 91. August 1999 via Scribd.
  6. "Roger Award for 2002: Judges' Report" (PDF). CAFCA. January 2003.
  7. And the Roger Award for 2008 Goes To Stuff.co.nz: Frontline by John Minto
  8. "Roger Award 2009 Announcement" (PDF). CAFCA. 11 March 2010.
  9. ANZ Wins Roger Award for 2009 indymedia.org.nz, March 2010
  10. "2011 Roger Awards". Scoop Independent News. 21 April 2012.
  11. "ANZ Wins 2014 Roger Award". Scoop Independent News. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  12. "2014 Roger Award Finalists Named". Scoop Independent News. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  13. "YOUI Wins 2016 Roger Award". Scoop Independent News. 10 April 2017.

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