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Their talents and backgrounds may be extremely varied, but the winners of the New Zealand Herald Future Stars awards all have one thing in common: excellence.
The awards, which are in their 42nd year, recognise the country's top young achievers in sport.
This year's six recipients: Danny Lee (golf), Sophie Pascoe (paralympic swimming), Hayley Palmer (swimming), Jessica Jonggowisastro (badminton), Rosie White (football) and James Hamilton (snowboarding) were all honoured at an awards luncheon at the Millennium Institute yesterday.
But with golfer Danny Lee and snowboarder James Hamilton both overseas competing, there was a distinctive "girl power" feel to the awards. Lee, who ended 2008 as the world's top ranked amateur, is in Perth competing in the Johnnie Walker Classic beginning today, while Hamilton is training in Canada before heading to Italy next month to compete.
With all the winners still in the fledgling stages of their careers, Mike Stanley, chief executive of the Millennium Institute, urged the group to continue to strive towards their goals.
"You are a talented group of people with a very special ability. My only pledge to you is to pursue that ability as far as you can," said Stanley. "You are only young for a short time, and a long time retired and old, so take that talent, nurture it and value it."
And the talented bunch have no plans to slow down. White, who has just been elevated to the national women's open squad, hopes to be selected for a number of big tournaments this year. But given her youth, she is still eligible to play the 2010 Under-17 World Cup and the Under-20 World Cups in 2010 and 2012.
Pascoe, 16, is looking forward to a relatively quiet year after rocketing into the spotlight with her medal haul of three gold and one silver at the Beijing Paralympics. This year she is focusing on the shortcourse world champs and a Canadian event, but beyond that has her sights set trying to better her Beijing feats at the 2012 Games in London.
Despite being about to start university, where she hopes to study health science, Jonggowisastro still has big goals for her badminton career including a top finish at the World Junior Championships in Malaysia this year.
Palmer, 19, proudly sports on her right hand a ring bearing the Olympic symbol, which serves as both a reminder of her achievements last year, and motivation for her to continue.
HERALD FUTURE STARS OF SPORT
* Danny Lee (golf) - won the 2008 US Amateur Championships, eclipsing Tiger Woods as the youngest winner in history.
* Sophie Pascoe (paralympic swimmer) - at just 15 won three gold and one silver medal at the Beijing Paralympics.
* Rosie White (soccer) - Scored hat-tricks at the Fifa Under-17 and Under-20 Women's World Cups.
* Hayley Palmer (swimming) - Represented New Zealand at the World Championships (short course) and the Beijing Olympics. By the end of the year Palmer had broken seven New Zealand open records and was ranked 20th in the world over 50m freestyle (short course).
* Jessica Jonggowisastro (badminton) - Ranked 105 in the world, represented New Zealand at the Junior World Championships and the Commonwealth Youth Games, reaching the quarter-finals in singles and doubles at the Youth Games.
* James Hamilton (snowboarding) - New Zealand's top-ranked snowboarder, has already qualified for next year's Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
