KEY POINTS:
First presented 40 years ago, the New Zealand Herald Junior Sports Awards continue to break new ground.
For the first time - and 195 awards have been made - a team has been recognised with world champion yachting stars Peter Burling and Carl Evans among the five recipients of the 2006 awards.
In winning the 420 two-handed class world title in the Canary Islands, they became the youngest crew to win that championship.
Burling, 15, and Evans, 16, are among the youngest to be recognised by the judges with 18 and 19-year-olds often the winners.
Burling is the youngest winner apart from Commonwealth Games gymnastics gold medallist Nikki Jenkins, who, at 14 years, won in 1990.
The other 2006 winners are Jessica McCormack (basketball), Katherine Prumm (motocross), Rebecca Spence (multisport/cycling) and Emma Twigg (rowing).
Given the outstanding applicants for this years awards, the judges had no hesitation in highly commending Simon Child (hockey), Danny Lee (golf) and Natalie Wiegersma (swimming).
McCormack and Spence were highly commended in 2005.
In keeping with the breakthrough theme, Prumm is the first from her sport to receive an award.
Evans had a year to savour. From the time he won the P Class Tanner Cup/Tauranga Cup (as the first to win all races) double, there was no stopping him.
He continued to sail with Burling, who began his year by successfully defending his national under-19 Starling titles, in the 420s.
In a staggering effort at the world championships where, sailing against 45 crews (some of whom were old enough be their fathers) they won seven of the 11 races.
They had the title in safe keeping without having to leave the beach for the last race.
McCormack continues to impress.
At 16 she became the youngest player to play for the Tall Ferns, helping them to basketball silver at the Commonwealth Games.
McCormack, who had earlier played for the national side in Cuba and Taiwan, also played for the national under-21 side and led her Northcote College team to victory at the national secondary schools championships where she was named the most valuable player.
South African-born Prumm, who has lived in New Zealand for 11 of her 18 years, continues to dominate in the rough and ready sport of motocross.
After winning the first round of the women's world championships in Germany, and riding with the support of her New Zealand-based Kawasaki team, she followed up with success in the United States.
Spence has long been in the spotlight.
The Rangitoto College seventh-former continued her domination on the world stage in 2006.
In Canada in July, Spence won the world junior (under-20) duathlon (run-swim-run) championship by a staggering three minutes to retain her title.
Two weeks later she swapped her wetsuit and running shoes for a bike and stunned the cycling world by winning the world junior (under-18) time trial championship in Belgium by 22s in only her second ride against the clock.
That victory enabled her to join a select group of New Zealanders who are able to wear the famed rainbow jersey as a world champion.
Spence's only miss came in her bid to win the coveted world triathlon championship when her hectic schedule caught up with her.
Twigg continues to impress in rowing, a sport which has grabbed headlines for the right reasons in recent years.
First selected to compete for New Zealand as a 15-year-old in 2003 as a member of the eight who competed in the eights at the world junior championships in Athens, she contested the same event the following year in Spain.
Following a switch, Twigg finished an impressive fourth in the single sculls at the 2005 under-23 world championships before going on to win single sculls gold at the world junior championships in Germany.
Last year she graduated to the elite eight taking the powerhouse No 6 seat in the crew who finished seventh at the world championships in England.
Twigg now has her sights set on the single sculls at next year's Beijing Olympics.
The difficulty the judges - Mike Stanley and Julie Meyer from the Millennium Institute of Sport and Health, Olympic swimmer and former award winner Alison Fitch, former New Zealand hockey representative David Appleby, Herald sports editor Chris Allen and Terry Maddaford - faced was in whittling down the impressive list of 58 nominees.
Those highly commended could just as easily been among the winners.
Child, who first played for the Black Sticks as a 16-year-old, now has more than 30 caps and is among the leading scorers for the national side.
Lee, playing on a +4 handicap, won the NZ under-23 strokeplay title by six strokes (at 14-under par) and continues to show out as a golfer likely to take the big step on to the international stage at the highest level.
Wiegersma flies the South Island flag as one of our most promising swimmers having won 100m backstroke gold at the FINA world youth championships in Brazil in August.
The winners, their parents and coaches/nominees will be guests of the Herald at a lunch at the Millennium Institute later this month at which they will receive $1500 training grants, an engraved medallion and a pack from the Herald and the Millennium Institute.
