Back in the saddle at Club Waimea for a momentous occasion in Aotearoa’s country music calendar.
The New Zealand Sun City Country Music Awards, presented by the Nelson Country Music Club, twanged over Labour Weekend with around 80 country music stars of all ages from across the country.
It included 25 to 30 locals vying for positions in the New Zealand Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year showdown in 2026.
Convener Jim Palmer says while the bum note in the weather in the days before the event left some slots deserted, he took his hat off to the standard on stage.
“We’ve got more juniors, more intermediates, which is showing that country music is starting to take a bit more of a foothold in New Zealand,” he says.
Nelson Country Music Club junior member Caci McNeill-Mckechie, 12, won best junior overall, with another club member, Isobel Stevens, 11, the junior overall runner-up.
