Horouta pair in the running

Coach of the Year nominee - Kiwi Campbell (left).

Horouta waka ama paddlers Kiwi Campbell and Gaibreill Wainohu are among the nominations for the Halberg Awards in February.

Campbell is one of 14 nominees from nine sports for the Coach of the Year award.

Wainohu is one of 15 nominees in the Emerging Talent category, which is aimed at helping young athletes reach the pinnacle of their sport.

Both were recognised in the national Maori Sports Awards last month. Campbell was named Maori Sports Coach of the Year and Wainohu, Junior Maori Sportswoman of the Year following their world-title-winning exploits in Tahiti.

Also honoured at the Maori Sports Awards was another athlete with Gisborne family links, Lisa Carrington, who was named Maori Sportsperson of the Year for a fifth time. The champion canoeist is in the running to repeat her Halberg Award successes of the past.

The Halberg Foundation has announced a record 93 nominations for six categories at the 56th ISPS Handa Halberg Awards, New Zealand’s pre-eminent event to celebrate and honour sporting achievements from 2018.

Held annually since 1963, the Awards are the brainchild of Olympic athletics champion Sir Murray Halberg to honour sporting excellence and to raise funds for the Halberg Foundation — Sir Murray’s charity that aims to enhance the lives of physically disabled young New Zealanders by enabling them to take part in sport and recreation.

A total of 43 sporting codes are represented in the nominations, submitted by national sporting organisations and an independent nominations board, recognising achievements in 2018 up to November 30. Accomplishments in December will be put forward for the 57th Halberg Awards.

The evolving international feats of females in sport have been recognised with 22 nominations from 15 sports for High Performance Sport New Zealand Sportswoman of the Year — the most of any category.

Women’s winner last year and 2016 supreme Halberg Award winner Carrington is in the running again. The canoe racing champion is joined by Abby Erceg (football), Alana Barber, Eliza McCartney, Julia Ratcliffe, Ruth Croft, Valerie Adams (all athletics), Caitlin Ryan (canoe racing), Evie Corrigan (powerlifting), Jo Edwards (bowls), Joelle King (squash), Jonelle Price (equestrian), Kendra Cocksedge, Michaela Blyde, Sarah Goss (all rugby), Lydia Ko (golf), Marquita Gelderman (orienteering), Olivia Eaton (surf lifesaving), Rushlee Buchanan (cycling), Stacey Michelsen (hockey), Suzie Bates (cricket) and Zoe Sadowski-Synnott (snowboarding).

World champion shot putter Tom Walsh, the 2017 winner, heads the 18 nominations from 12 sports for the Sportsman of the Year Award. This category also has Brodie Retallick, Codie Taylor, Richie Mo’unga (all rugby), David Andrew Liti (Olympic weightlifting), David Nyika (boxing), George Bennett, Patrick Bevin, Sam Gaze, Sam Webster (all cycling), Michael Venus (tennis), Nico Porteous (freeskiing), Paddy Chapman (croquet), Ross Taylor (cricket), Scott Dixon, Scott McLaughlin (both motorsport), Steven Kent (surf lifesaving) and Tim Robertson (orienteering).

Five-time winner Sophie Pascoe has again been nominated for the Para Athlete/Team of the Year, with support from Paralympics NZ. The Para swimming champion is joined by nine others: Adam Hall (para alpine skiing), Aotearoa NZ Para Waka Ama V12 (para waka ama), Commonwealth Games Para-Triples — Barry Wynks, Bruce Wakefield, Mark Noble (para bowls), Corey Peters (para alpine skiing), Holly Robinson (para athletics), Michael Johnson (para shooting), Nicole Murray (para cycling), Rachel Maia (para climbing) and Scott Martlew (para canoe racing).

The Team of the Year award has 14 nominations from 10 sports. They are: All Black Sevens, Black Ferns Sevens (both rugby), women’s doubles Joelle King and Amanda Landers-Murphy (squash), men’s double scull John Storey and Chris Harris (rowing), men’s team sprint Eddie Dawkins, Ethan Mitchell and Sam Webster (cycling), New Zealand indoor cricket 17-years-and-under boys (indoor cricket), Junior Black Fins (surf lifesaving), New Zealand underwater hockey men (underwater hockey), NZ underwater hockey women (underwater hockey), New Zealand Football u17 women (football), New Zealand women’s kayaking team (canoe racing), Vantage Black Sticks women (hockey), women’s double scull Brooke Donoghue and Olivia Loe (rowing) and women’s pair Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler (rowing).

Nominees for the para athlete/team, sportsman, sportswoman and team categories will all be eligible for the supreme Halberg Award — the country’s highest accolade for sporting excellence.

Carrington’s coach Gordon Walker will be considered for a third straight honour in the Buddle Findlay Coach of the Year. He is one of 14 coaches nominated from nine sports. Those nominated are Allan Bunting (rugby), Chris Waller (horse racing), Clark Laidlaw (rugby), Dale Stevenson (athletics), Eugene Bareman (mixed martial arts), Jason Pocock (surf lifesaving), Jeremy McColl (athletics), Joe Schmidt (rugby), Kiwi Campbell (waka ama), Leon Birnie (football), Marcelo Lopes (mixed martial arts), Raylene Bates (para athletics) and Roly Crichton (para swimming).

The developing international reputation of New Zealand’s stars of tomorrow is recognised in the Sky Sport Emerging Talent category, designed to assist a young athlete in the quest to reach the pinnacle in sport.

This year this category has 15 nominations: Amelia Kerr (cricket), Anna Leat (football), Dylan McCullough (triathlon), Gaibreill Wainohu (waka ama), Hamish McLean (para swimming), Jocelyn Hong (ice figure skating), Josh Armit (yachting), Kanah Andrews-Nahu (Olympic weightlifting), Kyle Glogoski (baseball), Lewis Clareburt (swimming), Maddison-Lee Wesche (athletics), Maxwell Darling (basketball), Rebecca Jones (archery), Risaleaana Pouri-Lane (rugby) and Zac Reid (surf lifesaving).

The Halberg Awards judges will review the nominations to shortlist into finalists who will be announced in January.

The 56th Halberg Awards will be held on Thursday, February 21, at Spark Arena in Auckland and televised live on SKY SPORT from 8pm. Other presentations during the ceremony will include New Zealand’s Favourite Sporting Moment (public vote category), Sport New Zealand Leadership, Lifetime Achievement and inductions into the Sports Hall of Fame.

The core work of the Halberg Foundation includes the efforts of a team of advisers who connect physically disabled young people to sport and recreation opportunities.

The Halberg advisers also deliver an inclusion training course on adapting physical activity and help clubs, schools and organisations to provide inclusive events and programmes.

The foundation also hosts the Halberg Games — an annual national three-day sports competition for physically disabled young people.