Our finest vie for top awards

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The lights are on for the glamour evening of Wanganui sports tonight as the 2014 Ray White Wanganui Sports Awards winners are announced at the dinner at Wanganui Racecourse.

There will be 360 guests attending, including the majority of the 100 nominees and special award recipients.

The nominees come from a spectrum of about 27 different sports, plus a handful of allrounders nominated for their success across multiple codes.

Rugby (16) and rowing (seven) make up the largest groups of nominations from participants, coaches, administrators and clubs.

The two glamour categories are the International Junior and Senior Sportsperson Of The Year groups.

Repeat Supreme Award winner Rebecca Scown (rowing) appears again alongside runner Lucy van Dalen and NZ Maori hockey goalkeeper Melissa Hylton.

It is a quality field for the juniors, as the winner was decided from globetrotters like last year's winner Jessica Van Bentum (inline speed skating), Max Attwell (athletics, decathlon), Geordie Beamish (athletics and cross country), Henry Collier (cricket), Kerri Gowler (rowing), and Max Brown and Aiden Nossiter (sprint kayaking).

In total there are three finalists in each of the nine categories, and the Supreme Award winner will be chosen from the nine award recipients.

The judging committee of chairwoman Philippa Baker-Hogan, Keith Smith, Grant McKinnon and Jared Smith selected the lucky few on October 24.