Rotorua's Amanda Landers-Murphy is a finalist for the Holland Beckett Law Sportswoman of the Year. Photo / File
Rotorua's Amanda Landers-Murphy is a finalist for the Holland Beckett Law Sportswoman of the Year. Photo / File
With so many Bay of Plenty athletes and sporting heroes achieving international success on the world stage, judges of this year's Bay of Plenty Sports Awards have found it difficult to choose one over the other.
But, it's a job they've had to work through together.
After deciphering 120 high-qualitynominations for this year's Bay of Plenty Sports Awards, the winners of 18 categories and a supreme award winner will be revealed at Mount Maunganui's ASB Arena tomorrow,
Veerle Ten Have is up for the Eves Realty Junior Sportswoman of the Year award thanks to her sailing achievements. Photo / File
The awards are celebrating 50 years this weekend and Sport Bay of Plenty's sport manager Nick Chambers says the calibre of athletes and sporting heroes from the Bay of Plenty is so high this year.
"This year was particularly difficult you know, we had Commonwealth Games in April in the Gold Coast and that produced a lot of results for New Zealand across the board," Chambers said.
With such "world-class" athletes in the region, Chambers said the decision of the winner "can come down to gold and silver in the same event".
Judges spent about eight hours together working through nominations and making a shortlist in every category, and came up with a list of 77 finalists across 18 categories.
Chambers said the shortlists were examined for connections and patterns to ultimately find winners, which include the top honours of Sportswoman and Sportsman of the Year.
"Everybody deserves a credit, they're all fantastic athletes, even if they're not in the finalists list that doesn't devalue achievements in any way shape or form.
"Judging was hard, it's probably not until you come to an awards night that you take stock of everything around the region," he says.
The Bay of Plenty Sports Awards, hosted by Sport Bay of Plenty, cover sporting achievements from all around the wider Bay of Plenty region including Te Kaha, Waihi, through to Reporoa and Taupō and in between.
"It's a big celebration, it's going to be a good night."
One of the finalists in the Sportswoman of the Year category is Black Ferns Sevens' Kelly Brazier, who was one of many heroes involved in the team securing gold at the Commonwealth Games and being named Rugby World Cup Sevens champions.
She says being nominated is "pretty humbling".
"It's always nice being recognised for that sort of thing. I'm probably the type of person to just put my head down and work, go about my job and if those things happen, they happen."
She is one of four involved in the national sevens programme up for an award, which Brazier believes shows the strength of the team as a whole.
"I guess again, it just shows the success of our team. It's not just one or two people, it's honestly the whole group - players, coaches, management, it just filters through the whole team and I think that's why this team has been so successful."
Her coach, Allan Bunting, is nominated for the coach of the year award and he says he is grateful for a nomination in his home region.
Tomorrow night's prestigious sports awards gala dinner get under way from 6pm to honour the region's top athletes, coaches, officials and administrators, outstanding achievements, performances and services to sport.
- Additional reporting David Beck
Rotorua's Amanda Landers-Murphy is a finalist for the Holland Beckett Law Sportswoman of the Year. Photo / File
