Straker Wins the Covid-19 Response Recognition Award

The New Zealand government established the Covid-19 Response Recognition Award in 2022 to recognize individuals and organizations that significantly contributed to the country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Prime Minister Jacinda Arden bestowed this award upon the interpreting team at Straker for their crucial interpreting and translation service during the pandemic.

More About the Covid-19 Response Recognition Award

This award recognizes frontline workers who contributed to New Zealand’s managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) efforts between March 2020 and February 2022. It celebrates the nation’s collective response to the global strategy for mitigating the effects of the pandemic. The award has two versions – one for individuals and one for organizations.

Individual awards have been presented to people who worked for the MIQ or INZ during the national state of emergency. People who demonstrated increased personal risk and sacrifice, worked on the frontline workforce or supported MIQ as a business partner or MBIE employee are also eligible for the award.

The government bestows organization awards on businesses that supported New Zealand’s response to the pandemic by providing services to the MIQ or support for people in MIQ facilities. Straker received this award in January 2023.

The Role of Interpreters During the Pandemic

Interpreters worldwide put their lives at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic to facilitate multilingual conversations between healthcare providers and patients. They offered translations and other services for clinic staff that needed to communicate with non-English speakers, especially during vaccine rollouts.

Straker’s interpreting team leveraged their translation software and human expertise to support New Zealand’s health sector during the pandemic. NZ has a large Asian community, and statistics suggest it will make up a quarter of its population by 2043. Many Asian residents speak English as a second or third language, and interpreters proved crucial in helping them make informed decisions about their health during the pandemic.

Straker’s Other Services

Straker is a leading translation service provider focusing on high-tech solutions that support global expansion. It offers cloud-based translation management systems to the world’s leading companies, helping them offer their clients global marketing, content, and business development solutions. Find out more about Straker’s localization solutions here.