Sir Peter Jackson has been named as the 2014 recipient of the Blake Medal in recognition of his leadership. Photo credit: AP via The New Zealand Herald.
Sir Peter Jackson has been named as the 2014 recipient of the Blake Medal, an award that recognizes outstanding contributions to the culture or economic success of New Zealand. The Sir Peter Blake leadership awards, started in 2004, recognize “leaders who set an outstanding example for young people to emulate,” according to an article in the New Zealand Herald.
The New Zealand Herald described Jackson as “the movie-making maverick of the untamed locks, flannelette shirts and legendary bare feet”. Jackson has received many honors in recent years, including a knighthood and an armload of Oscars, but the Blake Medal recognizes Jackson for his leadership, placing him alongside former recipients who are luminaries from business, law, education, and science.
In characteristic fashion, Jackson told the New Zealand Herald “I’m just a guy who grew up in Pukerua Bay and got lucky enough to be doing my hobby as a job,” adding “If somebody had said to me as a shy and retiring 15-year-old that one day I would get an award like this I would have said they were completely mad”.
Jackson’s influence has been instrumental in the growth of the Miramar film industry. Photo credit: Warner Bros, Wingnut Productions.
The Miramar film industry has become synonymous with Peter Jackson. Weta Digital, Weta Workshop, Stone Street Studios, and Park Road Post are known the world over, attract a steady stream of post-production and special effects work, employ over 5,000 individuals, and generate hundreds of millions of dollars each year. In addition, Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films have promoted a huge upswing in tourism for New Zealand. As usual, Jackson attributed the success of the films to others, not himself. “My films are the result of 1500 to 2000 people that I have a responsibility to lead. If I was taking something personal from this award it would be as leader of this group of people… I would guess that my best leadership quality is picking the right people,” he told the New Zealand Herald.
You can read the entire New Zealand Herald article here.
From all of us at Middle-earth News, congratulations, Sir Peter!
Here are some recent Middle-earth News stories about Sir Peter Jackson:
Sir Peter Jackson to get a star on Walk of Fame
Peter Jackson Realized a Short War Film
BREAKING NEWS: Peter Jackson Announces New Title for Third ‘Hobbit’ Film
