Calling for Waipa Youth Award nominations
24 February 2017
Nominations open Monday (27 February) for the 2017 Waipa District Council Youth Awards, which celebrate young people who've achieved outstanding results.
The awards recognise academic, community service, leadership, sporting and arts and culture achievements and are now in their 15th year. The awards are open to young people aged 14-18 years who live, or have attended school in Waipa for at least six months of the 2016 academic year.
Mayor Jim Mylchreest said Waipa has a range of very successful young people from sporting to academic and everything in between.
We have huge number of exceptional young people who deserve to be noticed and celebrated for what they do for their schools and their communities.
The benefits of winning a youth award include improving future scholarship and academic opportunities and receiving cash prizes or services in kind, such as additional coaching in the sport category, Mylchreest said.
The awards ceremony is hosted by the Waipa Youth Council made up of the head students from St Peter's School, Cambridge High School and Te Awamutu College. Last year 102 nominations were received and 63 exceptional young people were celebrated.
Past recipients have included New Zealand number one in archery and Sport Waikato Regional Secondary Sportsman of the Year finalist Carl Jones as well as Rio Paralympic gold and bronze medallist and Sport Waikato Regional Sportswoman of the Year Nikita Howarth.
Nikita said the awards are a great way to show young people that they have been noticed for their efforts and successes.
It was pretty cool being nominated for the award as I was recognised for my achievements in sport.
It gave me a lot of self-confidence and showed me that people are proud of what I had achieved, she said.
The awards are supported by a number of local organisations and businesses including Rotary, Cambridge Lions, Cambridge Business Networking International, CMYK and Storey Sport.
Nominations close on Friday, April 7. Nomination forms are available from secondary schools, council offices, libraries and online at www.waipadc.govt.nz/youthawards
For more information, contact: Nicole Nooyen 027 807 3478