Sports awards boosted

The addition of a new award has given extra bite to the 2007-08 Wairarapa Sports Awards, nominations for which are now being called.
What has been labelled the Supreme Award has just five potential winners ... those who earlier will have been crowned as either Senior Sports Personality, Junior Sports Personality, Administrator of the Year, Sports Team of the Year and Sports Club of the Year.
The innovation is very much in line with what occurs at the national Halberg Sports Awards which this year saw world champion shot-putter Valerie Vili win the sportswomen's section and then take out the overall award as well.
Nominees for the 2007-08 Wairarapa Sports Awards will be judged on performances registered from April 30, 2007, to March 31, 2008, with the exception of the administrative award which has no time frame because achievements there are invariably made over a more lengthy period.
As the event's major sponsor, the Wairarapa Times-Age is playing a big part in the initial process by regularly publishing the official nomination form up until the closing date of Sunday, April 20.
The number of nominations for each category usually run well into double figures, with every sporting organisation resident from Pahiatua in the north and Featherston in their south and including all places in between eligible to push their case, either in an individual or a collective sense.
The nominations received will then be assessed the next day and the names of the four finalists in each of the five sections will be announced on April 22, from which stage the Times-Age will publish a public voting form through until May 2.
Votes will then be counted and the winners announced at a special function to be held at the Copthorne Solway Park Hotel on the evening of Wednesday, May 7.
An interesting feature of last year's awards was that three of the section winners were repeating their successes of the previous year ace rally driver Richard Mason (senior), athlete Stevie Paine (junior) and the Wairarapa-Bush rugby side (team). The administrative award went to basketball referee Andy Thackray while the very first Club of the Year award was won by the Giants Softball Club.