Each year, a team of Canterbury sporting specialists is brought together to undertake the ultimate challenge – judging the ORIX NZ Canterbury Sports Awards. 

This daunting task involves assessing the best of the best, in a bid to recognise Canterbury’s top athletes in the given categories.

As in previous years, an independent panel of judges has been selected, including a number of Canterbury sporting icons. Long standing judges Gordon Findlater (Star Media), Brian Ashby (NZME), Tony Smith (The Press) and George Berry (WeAreCanterbury) returned to the panel this year, while local hockey legend Pat Barwick stepped in for the first time.

Sport Canterbury Chief Executive Julyan Falloon says he is grateful to the judges who, each year, generously give up their time to support this iconic event.

“It’s important to us to have a diverse range of judges represented in the panel who have a wide breadth of knowledge and experience of sport in Canterbury.”

“These individuals are and have been immersed in a multitude of sports within the Canterbury region for many years. They are passionate about what they do, and we really value their opinion.”

To understand why each judge is selected, it is important to look at their background and the impact each judge has had on the Canterbury sporting community.

Gordan Findlater has been a Sports Journalist for Star Media for the past four years and makes it his business know everything and everyone in local sport. After completing his diploma in radio at the Ara Institute of Canterbury in 2009, Findlater worked as a Breakfast Show co-host and producer for Pulzar FM. Three years later he became a Sport Journalist for CTV, and later moved to the Rural NZ Presenter position at CTV before accepting his current position at the Star.

Brian Ashby has worked as a Sports Journalist/Commentator at Newstalk ZB/ Radio Sport for the past 25 years. To date, he has commentated 11 Olympic and Commonwealth Games, been to two Triathlon World Championships and covered over 30 Rugby tests, two Rugby World Cups and all the Crusaders Super Rugby finals. As if that wasn’t enough, he has been to every Ironman in New Zealand since 2000, as either a reporter or competitor, covered every Coast to Coast since 1995, and has also worked at the swimming and road cycling nationals.

Tony Smith is legendary in local journalism circles, having served as a Sportswriter at The Press (Fairfax NZ) for the last 22 years. Tony prides himself on providing accurate accounts of sporting matches and events and has won several awards, including ‘Sports Journalist of the Year’ in 2009. Smith is also veteran to a host of international assignments including Rugby World Cups, the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games.

George Berry is the Co-founder and Editor of WeAreCanterbury, a media platform that tells the stories of Canterbury sportspeople, teams and events in a positive way. Berry is an experienced Media Manager with a full history of working in the sports/media industry. He is highly skilled in event media with experience at Olympic, Paralymic, Commonwealth Games as well as multiple World Cup/ Championships, and, most recently, the Kathmandu Coast to Coast. During his career he has also worked in Radio, Media Relations, Journalism, and Sports Writing.

The last of the judges is the Awards own Sporting Legend of Canterbury, Pat Barwick, inducted into the Canterbury Sporting Legends Hall of Fame at the 2018 Awards, and this year, a first time judge. Following 16 years as a teacher, Pat dedicated most of her working life to the cause of women’s hockey in New Zealand. Her list of roles and accolades is long: Provincial hockey representative for Wanganui, Otago, Hawkes Bay and Canterbury, New Zealand women’s hockey representative and captain, coach of the Carlton Club premier team in Christchurch who won four championships and coached the Canterbury women’s team to five national titles and two Champions Trophies. The highlight of her coaching career was as the coach to the New Zealand women’s team from 1987-92, finishing 7th in the 1990 World Cup, qualifying for the Barcelona Olympics in 1991, and competing in the Olympic Games in 1992. Pat was also a New Zealand selector during this period.

All five judges came together in mid-February to deliberate on the 160 nominations submitted from 40 sporting codes, with finalists announced on 4 March.

Complete list of finalists -  https://www.sporty.co.nz/asset/downloadasset?id=a9bd77bf-9964-4670-993f-3a562bde9ddd 

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