31 May 2005
Tough Competition as Harcourts Auctioneers Go for No. 1
A tough competition showcasing auction excellence has seen the highly experienced Andrew Sim of Harcourts Massey win
Harcourts’ coveted national Auctioneer of the Year Award. David Nightingale of Harcourts Browns Bay was named Harcourts’
Most Promising Auctioneer of the year.
The announcements were made Wednesday 25 May at the 2004-2005 black tie Awards Dinner concluding Harcourts' annual
three day Conference, with just on 1,000 attending.
CEO of Harcourts New Zealand (and past New Zealand auction representative) Bryan Thomson, said “To be a successful and
respected auctioneer requires professionalism, commitment, experience and a total dedication to exceptional results.
Andrew Sim is a champion who excels in all areas with many years of success providing him with a wealth of knowledge
benefiting his clients and assisting the professional development of those fortunate to work alongside him. Having
invested many years developing his craft Andrew is now quite rightly recognised as the best of the best.”
The competition was held Monday 23 May with four finalists (Andrew Sim, Grant Child of Tauranga, Luke Jansen of
Kilbirnie, Ted Ingram of Papakura) conducting a competition auction in front of over 500 of their Harcourts peers and
independent judges.
Mr Thomson added that the key to ongoing excellence was investing in the professional growth of new auctioneers. “We
were excited to have 20 novice auctioneers compete this year, with their across-the-board exceptional performances
making selecting a winner tremendously difficult. David Nightingale is a widely respected auction focused sales
consultant with a total understanding of the process to provide ongoing excellence to his clients.”
Five other auctioneers were acknowledged as highly commended in the Most Promising Auctioneer category: Guy Davidson and
Hamish McLeod from Christchurch City, Liane Mitchell from Wairarapa, Wendy Ploeg from Pukekohe, and Theo Smith from
Mount Maunganui Central.
Tough Competition as Harcourts Auctioneers Go for No. 1 (31 May 2005) cont…
Reinforcing the strength of the auction culture within Harcourts, Mr Thomson said Harcourts’ Top Auctioneer titles
reflected the continuing emphasis Harcourts puts on maintaining the highest standards.
“We boast the best auctioneers in the business, with Roger Dawson from Harcourts Christchurch City currently No. 1 in
the country and shortly representing New Zealand in Australia. We have an absolute commitment to continually improve the
standard of our auctioneers and the service they provide through ongoing training and competitions like this. The
quality of all the contestants again gives us great confidence that the future of auctioneering within our Group is in
very good hands.”
ENDS