The finalists in this year's Otago Sports Awards come from 10 different sports.
The list of 18 finalists is headed by snow sports, with four finalists, followed by athletics and cycling (three each) and triathlon and rowing (two). The other sports with finalists are curling, canoeing/kayaking, rugby, basketball and surf life-saving.
The list includes four athletes who have been selected for the London Olympic Games: Fiona Bourke and Hamish Bond (rowing), Nicky Samuels (triathlon) and Alison Shanks (cycling). Two of the coaches, Raylene Bates (athletics) and Mark Elliott (triathlon and cycling), will also be in official positions in London.
Last year's winner of the ASB-sponsored awards, world champion rower Hamish Bond, is again a finalist.
The finalists also include Adam Hall (skiing), who won the supreme award in 2010 after winning a gold medal at the Paralympics.
Canoeist Courtney Kerin is a rare individual sportsperson from North Otago to be a finalist in the Otago sports awards. The North Otago cricket team won the team award in 2010 after winning the Hawke Cup for the first time.
A finalist in this year's team award is the Otago cross-country team that won the national title for the first time since 1959.
The high standard of junior sport in Otago has led the organisers to split the awards into men's and women's sections.
The annual awards dinner will again be organised by Sport Otago, which has held the annual awards since 1990.
There is a change this year with the dinner being held at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Friday, May 18.
The event is usually held at the Dunedin Town Hall but the venue is being refurbished.
The guest speakers at the dinner will be siblings Barbara and Bruce Kendall, who have both won Olympic gold medals in board sailing.
Barbara Kendall has the complete set from the five Olympic Games in which she competed.
She won a gold medal in Barcelona in 1992, a silver medal in Atlanta four years later and a bronze medal in Sydney in 2000.
Bruce Kendall won a bronze medal in Los Angeles in 1984 and a gold one in Seoul in 1988.
Funds raised from the dinner will be used by Sport Otago to advance junior sport in the province. The dinner will no longer be linked to the Halberg Trust.
The awards selection panel is: Dr Dave Gerrard (sports medicine specialist), John Brimble (Sport Otago chief executive), Hayden Meikle (Otago Daily Times sports editor) and Alistair McMurran (ODT sports writer).
Tickets for the dinner can be bought from Sport Otago operations manager Duane Donovan (474-6419 or operations@sportotago.co.nz).
Otago Sports Awards
The finalists
Sportswoman: Fiona Bourke (rowing), Alison Shanks (cycling), Nicky Samuels (triathlon).
Sportsman: Hamish Bond (rowing), Adam Hall (skiing), Sean Becker (curling).
Junior sportswoman: Courtney Kerin (canoe and kayak), Rebecca Sinclair (snow sports), Sophie Williamson (cycling).
Junior sportsman: Andrew Whyte (athletics), Michael Collins (rugby), Byron Wells (snow sports).
Team: Otago Goldrush (basketball), Laughton sisters (surf life-saving), Otago men's cross-country team (athletics).
Coach: Raylene Bates (athletics), Tom Willmott (snow sports), Mark Elliott (triathlon, cycling).
