66 Nominations Received For 2009 Westpac Halberg

66 Nominations Received For 2009 Westpac Halberg Awards

Auckland, 21 December 2009 - Outstanding performances by New Zealanders on the world stage during the year resulted in 66 nominations being considered for the 2009 Westpac Halberg Awards.

The awards, organised by the Halberg Trust, salute outstanding achievement by New Zealanders in sport both at home and abroad.

Each year the Halberg Trust calls for nominations from all New Zealand national sporting bodies and a Voting Academy to determine four finalists for the Westpac Sportsman, Sportswoman and Sports Team categories. From those 12 finalists the Voting Academy selects one, by secret ballot, to receive the supreme accolade for sporting excellence, the Halberg Award. This will be announced at the 2009 Westpac Halberg Awards dinner at Sky City Convention Centre, Auckland, on Thursday 04 February, 2010.

This year the Halberg Trust received 24 nominations for the Sportsman category, 17 Sportswoman, 15 Team and 10 nominations for Coach of the Year. The category finalists will not be announced until early next month so late performances by individual athletes or teams during 2009 can be considered by the Academy.

In addition there were 16 nominations for the Westpac Emerging Talent Award, being presented for the fourth time, which offers a $15,000 scholarship from Westpac bank to the winner. The four finalists for 2009 are Sam Webster (cycling), Aaron Cruden (rugby), Robbie Manson (rowing) and Sam Meech (sailing).
The criteria for Halberg Award selection is:

The Halberg Award will be awarded to the athlete (or team) whose level of achievement in 2009 represented excellence in sport at the highest level.
To be eligible for nomination for an individual award an athlete or coach must be either a New Zealand citizen or have New Zealand residency as defined by the Department of Internal Affairs.

To be eligible for the team award the team must be either:
- A New Zealand Representative team (representing a New Zealand national sporting organisation)
- A team that is a registered New Zealand entity

The 29-strong Voting Academy comprising media representatives plus athletes and coaches is:

Philippa Baker Hogan, Richard Becht, Hamish Carter, Ron Cheatley, Mathew Cooper, Graeme Crosby, Andy Dalton, Howard Dobson, Daniel Gilhooly, Steve Gurney, Andy Hay, Rachael Henderson, Debbie Hockley, Jayne Kiely, Dave Leggat, Danyon Loader, Jonathan Millmow, Peter Montgomery, Ron Palenski, Farah Palmer, Ramesh Patel, Mark Richardson, Anna Rowberry, Mark Sorensen, Mike Stanley, Howie Tamati, Dick Tayler, Brendan Telfer and Kevin Tutty.

The full list of nominations for the 2009 Westpac Halberg Awards:

Westpac Sportsman of the Year

Michael Ardern (Paralympics), Dan Carter (rugby), Julian Dean (cycling), Scott Dixon (motor sport), Mahe Drysdale (rowing), Chris Eaden (ice hockey), Rory Fallon (football), Duncan Grant (rowing), Adam Hall (Paralympics), Greg Henderson (cycling), Daniel Holt (Paralympics), Cameron Leslie (Paralympics), Rob Matthews (Paralympics), Richie McCaw (rugby), Peter Michael (speed skating), Adam Minopiro (sailing),
Ryan Nelson (football), Kirk Penney (basketball), Hayden Roulston (cycling), Tom Scully (cycling), Jesse Sergent (cycling), Daniel Sharp (Paralympics), David Tua (boxing) and Daniel Vettori (cricket)

Westpac Sportswoman of the Year

Nicole Begg (speed skating), Catherine Cheatley (cycling), Emma Feathery (rowing), Mary Fisher (Paralympics), Paige Hareb (surfing), Andrea Hewitt (triathlon), Miriam Jenkins (Paralympics), Hayley Moorwood (football), Sophie Pascoe (Paralympics), Rebecca Scown (rowing), Alison Shanks (cycling),
Paula Tesoriero (Paralympics), Emma Twigg (rowing), Valerie Vili (athletics), Sarah Walker (cycling),
Casey Williams (netball) and Monique Williams (athletics).

Westpac Sports Team of the Year

All Blacks (rugby), All Whites (football), Black Sox (softball), Black Sticks, Men (hockey), Black Sticks, Women (hockey), Brad Jackson and Stu Bannatyne (sailing), Eric Murray and Hamish Bond (rowing), Ice Blacks (ice hockey), Men’s Madison (cycling), Men’s Team Pursuit (cycling), Silver Ferns (netball), Storm Uru and Peter Taylor (rowing), Tall Blacks (basketball), Women’s Team Pursuit (cycling) and Women’s 420 (sailing).

SPARC Coach of the Year

Ruth Aitken (netball), Tim Carswell (cycling), Dayle Cheatley (cycling), Calvin Ferguson (rowing), Kirsten Hellier (athletics), Ricki Herbert (football), Craig Palmer (cycling), Gordon Tietjens (rugby), Richard Tonks (rowing) and Nenad Vucinic (basketball).

ENDS

© Scoop Media