Finalists announced for NZ Sport and Recreation Awards
Finalists announced for NZ Sport and Recreation Awards
The New Zealand Sport and Recreation Awards, in their 11th year, capture and acknowledge the exemplary work taking place across Aotearoa New Zealand’s sport and recreation sector.
The awards will be held in Wellington on 28 May. 21 finalists have this year been selected from a wide group of candidates spanning women’s rugby, surf life saving, waka ama and shearing and woolhandling.
Chair of the judging panel, Peter Dale, said the number of outstanding nominations in each of the six award categories, and from such a varied pool of activities, confirmed the high standards of work taking place across the sector.
“The campaigns we’ve seen this year have been outstanding, showcasing inclusive community programmes and inspirational high-performance achievements. The ways people can connect with physical activity, through sport and recreation, are increasingly diverse and this can only be encouraging more New Zealanders to get active”, he says.
Organised by Sport NZ and presented in conjunction with its annual Connections Conference, which will this year be held at Te Papa on 28 and 29 May, Peter Miskimmin, CEO of Sport NZ, says it’s great to see sport and recreation bodies using fresh thinking to attract a broad variety New Zealanders.
“We’re seeing new, tailored opportunities to encourage those less active to find a style of physical recreation that suits them. We know physical activity contributes to overall wellbeing in so many ways, and it’s great to see new initiatives to connect with people from all walks of life becoming more and more visible in communities", says Miskimmin.
Sport NZ is excited to announce this year a new $10,000 scholarship to be awarded to an emerging leader as part of New Zealand Sport and Recreation Awards.
“Maintaining a pipeline of emerging leaders is critical to the success of New Zealand’s sporting sector, as is developing those. We have to ensure they are best equipped to deal with the changing landscape of sport and recreation in New Zealand,” says Mr Miskimmin.
The New Zealand Sport and Recreation Award winners will be announced on Monday 28 May.
The finalists by category (in alphabetical order) are:
Commercial Partnership:
- Badminton New Zealand and Massey University
- Hockey New Zealand and Vantage Windows and Doors
- Surf Life Saving New Zealand and BP
- World Masters Games 2017 and Barfoot & Thompson
Community Impact:
- Fiordland Trails Trust - Lake2Lake - Te Anau to Manapouri Multi-use Trail
- The Shift Foundation - Shift: Just Shift It
- Special Olympics New Zealand - 2017 National Summer Games
Event Excellence:
- The DHL New Zealand Lions Series 2017 - NZ Rugby
- World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships 2017 - The NZ Shearing Foundation
- World Masters Games 2017
Future Leaders Scholarship (inaugural):
- Anna Markwick - Sport Northland
- Cam Mitchell - Cricket Wellington
- Jenny Lim - Harbour Sport
- Joe Hitchcock - Badminton New Zealand
- Michael Woodside - Sport Wellington
High Performance Campaign:
- Black Ferns' Women's Rugby World Cup Campaign 2017 - NZ Rugby
- World Championship Gold Medal Men's Shot Put 2017 - Athletics New Zealand
- World Doubles Squash Championships 2017 Gold Medal Mixed Pair - Squash New Zealand
Innovation Excellence:
- Athletics New Zealand: Vertical Pursuit 2017 & Beyond!
- Sport Gisborne Tairāwhiti: i-COACH
- Waka Ama New Zealand: IT Solutions
In addition to the shortlisting for the above categories, the judges considered nominations for the C K Doig Leadership Award. Recipients of all awards will be announced at the award ceremony on 28 May.
The judging panel comprised Peter Dale (Chair), Diana Puketapu, Sir John Wells, Peter Miskimmin, Sarah Beaman and Selwyn Maister.
Media contact
Lucy Orbell
T: 021 194 9503
