A celebration of the sporting talent in the district - the Central Otago Sports Awards - is drawing near, and award nominations need to be in before April 7.

The awards have been revamped this year with the aim of recognising a wider variety of sports.

This year the number of finalists will reflect the quality of performance, rather than being limited to three.

The awards criteria and nomination form is online and available on the Sport Otago website.  

“The new format will ensure that we have a broad range of talent from across our region,” Sport Central community sports advisor Tiny Carruthers said.

“If we think about some of the results this year from curling to cricket, swimming, athletics, kayak, mountain bike and multi sport, there are a multitude of remarkable achievements across our diverse sporting landscape, we need to acknowledge and celebrate these.”

Tiny said removing the restriction on the number of finalists will ensure that athletes who have achieved significant results over the qualifying period will be acknowledged and invited to be part of the awards celebration.

The period the awards cover is from April 1 2022 to March 31 2023. 

Awards are sportswoman and sportsman of the year, junior sportswoman and sportsman of the year, team of the year, para-athlete or para-athlete team of the year, coach of the year, a supreme award, the spirit of Central junior and senior awards, and official of the year. 

The awards will be held in Wānaka on Friday May 12 at the Lake Wānaka Centre.