They've drawn just about everything – from maps of weather ‘sausages' to an illustration of Julie Andrews being hit by a trampoline blown about by heavy winds.

These humorous cartoons are all part of an innovative social media strategy run by Waikato Civil Defence and have proven to be a huge hit with people up and down the country.

Waikato Civil Defence has been named a finalist in the annual Local Government New Zealand Excellence Awards for its innovative and humorous social media strategy. Image: Matthew Pryor/WCD

Now their work has received further recognition with the group's social media strategy being named a finalist in the Local Government New Zealand Fulton Hogan Excellence Award for Community Engagement.

Group controller Lee Hazlewood says the strategy was developed by the team's social media specialist Matthew Pryor.

'[The purpose is] to engage communities in civil defence emergency management through social media, using original, educational and informative content,” says Lee.

'The humorous approach developed has had great results in terms of growing our social media audience. It's great to see his work being recognised with an award nomination.”

Category winners will be announced at a gala dinner during the LGNZ Conference taking place in Dunedin next month.

For more information and laughs visit Waikato Civil Defence's Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/WaikatoCivilDefence