Submission deadline extended for 2026 recommendations: Submit before 1 JULY, 2025

YOU can recommend your favourite “bug” to be a nominee for Bug of the Year! And, you can recommend as many bugs as you want! (just “refresh” your page after you hit “submit”). Note that winners of Bug of the Year are not eligible to be a nominee in future competitions.

Start by letting us know who you are, and then fill in the details about your recommended bug. If your recommendation is selected to be a nominee, we may use the information you provide on our Bug of the Year website to promote that nominee (click here for an example).

Submissions will be selected in a manner to maximize taxonomic diversity among the nominees. Please note that past winners cannot be included in future nominee lists, nominees from the same taxonomic family as a previous winner will only be considered at least two years after the winner from that family was announced, and nominees are can be listed for up to 2 years in a row. We announce the nominees at the Entomological Society of New Zealand Conference and via email.

If you want to see your recommendation as a nominee, please fill out as much information as possible.

Please note: Your email address will ONLY be used for discussions regarding your recommendation for a Bug of the Year 2024 Nominee.
Note: Only species that can be found in NZ will be considered. If you clicked “yes” to this question, please ensure at least one of the image links is from a NZ observation. If you clicked no, we will not consider this recommendations as a nominee.
Note: We will consider all submissions, but preference will go to endemic and native species.
What is the basic biology and ecology of this species? What are some neat facts? See examples from 2023 & 2024 for inspiration. If you use material from another source, please provide the reference url of that source. We rely on this description when setting up nominee info pages on our website.
Provide the url, preferably available as Creative Commons (CC – any) for use. At least one image should be an observation recorded in New Zealand. Wikipedia and iNaturalist.nz are both excellent sources for CC images, but you are not restricted to using images from only those sites. If you would like guidance on how to make your own images available as Creative Commons, contact us at BugoftheYear@ento.org.nz.
A second image is not required, but the more info you can provide, the better. Provide the url, preferably available as Creative Commons (CC – any) for use.
Preferably for the species, but genus or family is fine. Try to find a page for the lowest taxonomic level
Champions receive updates on voting stats, and encouragements from the Bug of the Year Committee starting after nominees are announced through the announcement. If their nominee wins, Champions receive support from the Entomological Society of New Zealand to continue their efforts promoting their winner!
You can leave this field blank if you want.

Ngaro Huruhuru – Native Bee (Leioproctus fulvescens) is the FIRST to be crowned New Zealand Bug of the Year 2023!!!