Final Call To Nominate Maori Sports Achievers

28 September 2004

Final Call To Nominate Maori Sports Achievers

Nominations for the 2004 Trillian Trust Maori Sports Awards close this Friday (01/10/04).

‘Te Rongo-Tu-Taua a Maui’ – honouring male Maori champions from the past – is the theme of this year’s black-tie awards ceremony which is being held at the Auckland Showgrounds on Saturday, December 4. An annual Tamariki Sports and Cultural Day will again be hosted by Te Kura Kaupapa Maori a Rohe o Mangere at House Park Reserve in Mangere Central on Thursday, December 2.

Te Tohu Taakaro o Aotearoa executive director Richard (Dick) Garratt says nomination forms can be downloaded from the new-look website HYPERLINK "http://www.maorisportsawards.co.nz/"www.maorisportsawards.co.nz for 10 categories: sports administrator of the year; umpire/referee; sportsperson with a disability; coach; junior sportsman and woman; senior sportsman and woman; sports team; and Maori world champion awards.

A nomination form for SPARC’s Best Community Initiative Award can also be downloaded from the website but must be received by Te Tohu Taakaro o Aotearoa by this Friday as well, Mr Garratt says. However, nominations for the Maori Sports Media Award do not close until October 31.

The annual awards event recognises sporting achievements from October 1, 2003, to October 1, 2004, with judges selecting three finalists in each category. New Zealand netball’s golden girl, Temepara Clark, won senior Maori sportswoman at last year’s event before picking up the supreme award, the 2004 Albie Pryor Memorial Maori Sports Person of the Year.

“A special feature of this year’s ceremony will be a tribute to those Maori athletes who reached the pinnacle of sporting achievement by representing Aotearoa at the Athens Olympics,” Mr Garratt says.

“The quality of athletes, coaches and administrators who are nominated every year continues to go from strength to strength and we are in no doubt that the standard of entries for the 2004 ceremony will surpass previous years.”

The Trillian Trust is the naming rights sponsor again this year with support from LTSA, ALAC, ACC, Te Puni Kokiri, TVNZ, MTS, SPARC, Manukau City Council, Fletcher Construction, Mighty River Power, Te Whanau o Waipareira, UNITEC, AUT, Human Rights Commission, Lion Breweries, Auahi Kore, Wanderers Club, Ministry of Education, Active Foundation, Sky City Community Trust and the Lion Foundation.

More information about the 2004 Trillian Trust Maori Sports Awards is on HYPERLINK "http://www.maorisportsawards.co.nz/"www.maorisportsawards.co.nz including table and ticket sales.

ENDS

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