A slip of the tongue by National Party leader Simon Bridges has become the winner of this year's best quote.

Photo: VNP / Phil Smith

In July, Mr Bridges accidentally referred to his deputy Paula Bennett as "Paula Benefit" during a media interview.

The gaffe won Massey University's annual Quote of the Year competition, with 21 percent of the 3322 votes cast by New Zealanders.

Competition organiser Heather Kavan said the gaffe was all the more funny because it came at a time when Mr Bridges would've been trying to avoid the word, due to controversy around benefit policies by Mrs Bennett.

"The journalist and Simon Bridges laugh at the mistake, giving us an extra second to savour the embarrassment," she said.

"The stumble itself isn't that bad ─ even eloquent speakers like Barack Obama make slip-ups."

However, Ms Kavan said the winning quote came as a surprise.

"I didn't expect voters to experience Simon Bridges' unconscious mind as more entertaining than some of New Zealand's best comedians," she said.

"I think the win comes down to the twinge of delight we feel when we see people in power make a mistake."

Taika Waititi's forthright quote about New Zealand being racist came in second place.

The comment was made during an interview with Dazed magazine, in reaction to the interviewer saying, "I think I've got quite an idealised vision of New Zealand as like Australia without the racism and the blokeish sense of humour."

Waititi responded: "It's racist as f***. I think New Zealand is the best place on the planet, but it's a racist place."

The comment probably resonated with a lot of people's experiences, Ms Kavan said.

In third place, was Sir John Key's "wear a name badge" quip about Australia's constantly-changing prime ministers.

"The quote extends the friendly banter between Australians and New Zealanders. He said it when he was speaking at a property conference in Darwin, and Australians seemed to enjoy the humour," Ms Kavan said.

"They were already making jokes themselves about the fast-changing leadership, and one designer was selling "Ban the single-use only Prime Minister" canvas bags to replace plastic bags."

Here's the full list of Massey University's Quote of the Year competition winners: