Media Release
Recent Top Performances Fuel Strong Interest in Halberg Award
Auckland 30 November, 2009:- Outstanding performances recently by New Zealand sporting individuals and teams both at
home and abroad have fuelled a strong demand for tickets to attend the 2009 Westpac Halberg Awards dinner in Auckland
next February.
Three months out from the big night, set down for Thursday February 4 at Sky City Convention Centre, more than 650
tickets have been sold. And with numbers limited to a maximum of 900, the Halberg Trust expects the dinner could be a
sell out by the end of the year.
“We’ve had a number of new enquiries in the last few weeks which is most encouraging,” says Halberg Trust Chief
Executive Steve Hall. “We put that down to the emotion generated around the All Whites dramatic win over Bahrain earlier
this month to book a place at the World Cup next year, the rush of gold medals by our track cyclists in Melbourne as
well as the solid run of form by the All Blacks on their end-of-year tour. So we are most encouraged by the interest
this has created.”
Each year the Trust hosts a glittering black-tie dinner which salutes New Zealand’s top sporting achievers of the
previous 12 months. The supreme winner receives the Halberg Award, widely regarded by New Zealand sports men, women and
teams as this country’s premier sporting prize.
For the first time the Westpac Halberg Awards, which will also salute a ‘decade champion’ covering the 2000-2009 period,
will be televised live by SKY TV. “We are very excited about our new partnership with SKY who will provide 3 hours live
coverage on the night as well as two preview shows on SKY Sport. Plus free-to-air channel PRIME will broadcast a re-play
of the awards dinner before switching over to take the last two big awards of the night LIVE, so we are confident that
SKY will help us take the awards to another level,” says Mr Hall.
The overall Halberg Award winner and category finalists are determined by a voting academy comprising sports media and
sporting achievers. The Halberg Trust also seeks nominations from all national sporting organisations, with the cut off
for nominations closing shortly.
Tickets for the 2009 Westpac Halberg Awards at Sky City on February 4 are available at $4,000 (incl. GST) for tables of
10, or $400 (incl. GST) for individual tickets, by contacting the Halberg Trust
ENDS