A celebrity cat has been nominated alongside Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and an admired health director for the New Zealander of the year award.
Mittens, a Turkish Angora cat, is often spotted by fans roaming tattoo parlours, office towers and churches in Wellington.
In 2018 the intrepid cat was reportedly brought to a police station in the New Zealand capital by worried locals who feared he was lost.
But after repeated encounters with Mittens, an Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals employee started a Facebook page to reassure people that the cat was not lost — he just liked having adventures.
The Facebook page now has 50,000 followers who track the cat's daily activities around town, and last year Mitten was presented with the key to the city.
Now fans have nominated the cat for the New Zealander of the year award.
“In this extraordinary year, we know that everyone has a hero,” Miriama Kamo, the patron of the awards, said.
Other local heroes in the running are prime minister Jacinda Ardern, her figurative “team of five million” for their adherence to lockdown rules, and the director-general of health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield.
Dr Bloomfield has accrued fans during the pandemic for his calm demeanour and thorough knowledge of Covid-19 facts during his daily press briefings. Tea towels, face masks and shopping bags have been printed with civil servant's face by devoted admirers.
New Zealand writer Anna Connell, who jokingly changed her Twitter handle to The Ashley Bloomfield Fan Club after admiring his demeanour at media briefings, has become the unofficial leader of the country's Dr Bloomfield fans.
“It’s unusual to have people unifying so positively around one person on Twitter, but it’s really hard to find anyone saying a bad word about him,” Ms Connell said.
“I think he just epitomises something quite wholesome; he’s not political, he’s got neutrality about him. He is a very appealing kind of guy. He’s very calm, and he’s very measured – and he’s got really nice hair.”
Microbiologist Dr Siouxsie Wiles, who has been heavily involved in public health communication for Covid-19, Greens MP Chlöe Swarbrick, journalist Patrick Gower, and ACT party leader David Seymour have also all been nominated.
Organisers said public facing people who were combating and managing the coronaviruscrisis had received “a significant number of nominations”, which, they said “truly reflect[ed] the mood of the nation this year.”
Actor and director Taika Waititi, comedian and mental health advocate Mike King, and former All Blacks captain Richie McCaw have all previously won the award - which has never yet been taken home by a cat.