Sport and arts winners announced at University Blues Awards

16 October 2015

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Sport and arts winners announced at University Blues Awards

Excellence in rowing, waka ama and cello was acknowledged in the top accolades presented at the 2015 Wallace Corporation University of Waikato Blues Awards on Friday, October 16.

This year, more than 60 Blues Awards were given out for high achievement in sport and arts. Award winners represented a range of disciplines, from softball to diving, kapa haka to music composition. The Blues Awards, which saw more than 200 guests in attendance, are one of the University of Waikato’s most prestigious awards and one of its strongest traditions.

Caleb Shepherd was named Athletes House Sportsman of the Year, while Zoe Stephenson was named Sportswoman of the Year for the second year running. Another two-time winner was Tupuria King who won The Pou Ahurea Award for Māori Person of the Year, and Catherine Kwak was named as Creative and Performing Arts Person of the Year.

Sportswoman of the Year Award – Zoe Stevenson (rowing)
Zoe has enjoyed great success both in New Zealand and overseas. In the last year, she has placed first at World Cup regattas in Italy and Switzerland, as well as winning the women’s double sculls at the Rowing World Championships in Amsterdam. This year she also won gold at the North Island Rowing Championships and at the New Zealand Rowing Championships.

Athletes House Sportsman of the Year Award – Caleb Shepherd (rowing)
Caleb won gold at the 2014 Under-23 World Championships as part of the men’s eight crew as well as gold at the World Rowing Championships in the men’s coxed pair. This year he was selected into the New Zealand Elite Men’s 8 as the coxswain. At this year’s World Rowing Championship, the crew raced to fourth place earning the boat qualification to the 2016 Olympic Games. The team won the 2015 Windermere Cup against the University of Washington and Columbia University as well as bronze at World Rowing Cup 3 in Lucerne.

Pou Ahurea (Māori Person of the Year Award) – Tupuria King (waka ama)
Tupuria is this year’s 250 metre, 500 metre and long distance New Zealand National Waka Ama Champion. Tupuria has competed internationally in Tahiti, New Caledonia, Hawaii, Australia and California USA in 2015 alone. He has been invited to paddle with a top Tahitian team to compete at the Hawaiki nui race next month covering 160km over three days between four islands finishing in Borabora.

Creative and Performing Arts Person of the Year – Catherine Kwak (cello)
Earlier this year, Catherine travelled to the Johansen International Competition in Washington, where she made the semi-finals. As her prize, she won a half scholarship to Brevard summer school in America. In July, she was invited to perform at the Euro Arts Music Festival and Academy in Germany. Catherine was also named 2015 Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra “Young Soloist of the Year”. She is also a part of the ROSL International Chamber Music Scholarship winning group “Quattro”.

All four major winners are Sir Edmund Hillary Scholars. The Hillary programme provides full fee scholarships to academic high achievers who show significant leadership qualities and also excel in either sport or the creative and performing arts.

Other major awards presented on the night:
University Club of the Year – Hamilton Star University Cricket Club
Don Llewellyn Trophy Sports Team of the Year – University of Waikato Premier Netball
Sports Coach of the Year – Roger Randle (Waikato 7’s coach)
Creative and Performing Arts Tutor of the Year – Nathaniel Smorti (current student and community music teacher)
Service Award – Laichyn Parkinson
Margaret Nicholson Long Service Award (10 years or more service) – Mark Commins (Life Member of Hamilton Star University Cricket Club)
Creative and Performing Arts Group of the Year – Quattro (University of Waikato student cello group)

The Blues Awards were sponsored by Wallace Corporation, the Waikato Students’ Union and Athletes House.

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