The talented 17-year-old surfer is a finalist in the Otago Sports Awards which will be held at the Dunedin Town Hall tonight.
It is a big occasion for the year 13 King’s High School pupil and wonderful recognition for a sport which does not always make the headlines.
"It is great to be recognised for surfing," Brown said.
"A lot of the time it is just the standard sports ... so it really means a lot to me to be selected as a finalist."
Brown has had a sterling 12 months but among the many highlights was finishing third in the open men’s category at the nationals in January. He also placed second in the under-18 category and collected the outstanding performance award.
In September, he represented New Zealand at the Junior World Surfing Championships in the Azores — an autonomous group of islands off the coast of Portugal.
"That was my first international surfing competition and it was definitely a good experience."
The following month he won the New Zealand Scholastics Surf Championship.
He has certainly come along way from the 10-year-old whose first taste of the sport was when he stood up on his boogie board at Allans Beach one day. His father, Antony Brown, encouraged him to "give surfing a go".
"It pretty much started then. I got really into it when I was about 12 or 13.
"I started with the local competitions and went from there."
Brown has some stiff competition in the junior sportsman category with Otago seamer bowler Nathan Smith and Queenstown snowboarder Tiarn Collins also mounting compelling claims.
Olympic rowing champion Hamish Bond shapes as the favourite in the sportsman category but has strong competition in Black Caps left-armer Neil Wagner and bowls veteran Mike Kernaghan.
Leading international cricketer Suzie Bates is a finalist in the sportswoman category alongside Silver Fern and Steel midcourter Gina Crampton and Paralympic silver medalist Holly Robinson.
It is practically impossible to pick a winner in the junior sportswoman category. Palmerston motocross rider Courtney Duncan is fast on her way to becoming a world champion, while Paralympic gold medalist Anna Grimaldi and snowboarder Zoi Sadowski Synnott would also be very worthy winners.
The Otago Sparks, the Otago under-19 cricket team and the Netball South Beko league team all collected titles in the qualification period and are up for team of the year.
Para-athlete coaches Brent Ward and Raylene Bates and snow sports coach Mitchell Brown are the finalists in the coach of the year category, while international umpires Chris Gaffaney and Jono Bredin and hockey umpire Gareth Williams are up for the new award of official of the year.
