Waitaki App celebrated it's first full year in business by announcing Presence on Harbour as the winner of their first birthday prize draw.

Launched a year ago today (New Waitaki App all about community), November 24th, Waitaki App had three core goals; to develop a community diary that would be sustainably funded for the long-term, to provide an affordable and agile advertising platform for local businesses and to help visitors to the region see more of what's on offer, more easily.

Alex Regtien, one of Waitaki App's three directors along with Vicki McLean and Cara Tipping Smith, says, "it's been a year! And what a year. Like any startup, it's had its highs and lows but we are super proud of our team and what they've achieved".

Those achievements include over 450,000 views over the year, more than 11,000 readers and almost 500 news stories published along with hundreds of local events and job vacancies.

"Ash [the app's head of news, Ashley Smyth] has been phenomenal, we couldn't have done it without her", says Cara.

"She took a chance with us, knowing we're a startup and it would essentially be a news team of one plus some amateur, let's call it writing 'help', from Alex and I.

"That we all work from The Business Hive helps create a sense of team and of course, some of our other Hive regulars are also app contributors like Fraser Lewry and Christine Dorsey... so we're teams within teams but the bottom line is... Ash conceives it, she arranges it, does the interviews, she writes it and runs around town photographing it and she does such a wonderful job. I couldn't be more in awe of her skills."

Another person the directors appreciate is Hani Mohd, who takes care of much of the back end app operations.

"She does such a great job", said Cara.

"We try to get the content people give us, up and live as quickly as possible and it's usually Hani who does that, across all kinds of different parts of the app".

"We all work flexibly and that's why we ask people to fill out our forms to tell us their info - so it doesn't get lost in an email chain and we have all the info in one place, for whoever is on duty to be able to action it then and there."

Vicki said, "I think what we are fortunate to have is a flexible team of people who are all passionate about this community. We're all happy to muck in because we all want to see it thrive."

It's on that note that Alex reflects. "Presence on Harbour was, if not our first, one of our very first member advertisers. That they're our winner of a year's worth of banner advertising feels like it was meant to be because they put their faith in us, a whole year ago."

The Waitaki App team are far from done. "We have such plans and we're getting there", says Cara.

"We want to thank everyone who's supported us, the businesses who pay us to deliver these services through their advertising, the people who download and read the app, everyone who's told us about a club or a group or an event they know about, the social media pages and groups who've shared their news with us so we could share it too and every single contributor.

"It's nearly Christmas time so shop local everyone and don't forget to share what's going on with Waitaki App!"