The BBNZ Awards are only a week away, and excitement is already building around who will be the recipients of New Zealand’s top basketball honours – as nominated by the Associations around the country and selected by an esteemed judging panel – when Saturday 6 May arrives.
The BBNZ Awards is an annual event which celebrates basketball in Aotearoa; acknowledging players, coaches, officials and volunteers for their outstanding achievements either for the 2022 calendar year or in recognition of their basketball careers.
Let’s look at some of the top awards on offer on Saturday 6 May.
Legend Award
This award is given to only a select few in New Zealand, whose service to basketball is worthy of the highest honour. Last year saw noted player and coach, Colin Agnew receive the award, joining the likes of Keith Mair, Pero Cameron and Anita Hannen as earning ‘Legend’ status. Which one of our existing BBNZ Hall of Fame recipients will receive the receive the BBNZ Legend award on Saturday?
Hall of Fame
At the 2022 BBNZ Awards, a quartet of well-known Kiwis entered the BBNZ Hall of Fame. Leading the charge were the Tall Blacks duo of Kirk Penney and Phill Jones, alongside long-serving referee Ken Coulson and Tall Ferns great Leanne Walker. There are now 38 members of the BBNZ Hall of Fame that includes such luminaries as Burton Shipley, Megan Compain, Sean Marks and more.
It’s understood that five worthy recipients – including one storied team – will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year. And in an interesting quirk to the awards, one recipient will actually receive two entries into the Hall of Fame on the same night!
Sir Lance Cross Award
Presented to an individual who has given exceptional services to basketball, this award was presented to Matagini Cameron last year for her outstanding work in coaching and at a grassroots administration level. She joined other notable contributors to basketball such as Justin Toebes, Barbara Wheadon and Tab Baldwin in winning this award.
Male Player of the Year / Female Player of the Year
These two awards recognise the efforts of the Most outstanding male and female players of the year, based on a combination of their national and international performance, statistical performance and season accolades. For the men, Mika Vukona was presented with the award last year after his stellar Tall Blacks career came to a close; while Tall Fern Penina Davidson went-to-back with her second straight Female Player of the Year award.
There are plenty of worthy candidates in both camps this year – including members of the Tall Blacks teams who earned a place at the 2023 FIBA World Cup, and female players who starred in various competitions both in Aotearoa and overseas.
Most Valuable Player
Penina Davidson was the deserved winner of the MVP award last year, following a stellar 2021 campaign which saw her star for the Tall Ferns at the FIBA Asia Cup and claim an Australian WNBL Championship with the Melbourne Boomers. Davidson became only the second back-to-back MVP award winner (2021 & 2019), joining Glen Denham (1988 & 1989) as the only athletes to do so.
Who will win the MVP award this year, based on their efforts for club and country in 2022?
Zena Gay / Murray McMahon Awards
These two awards were presented to coaches Lori McDaniel and Nenad Vucinic in 2022, in recognition of their respective contributions to women’s and men’s basketball in New Zealand. Vucinic was only the fifth ever recipient of the Murray McMahon Award – joining Paul Henare, Noel Hayman, Claire Dallison and Barry Wilson in the ranks – while McDaniel joined a long list of Zena Gay award recipients that included Jill Bolger and Donna Wilkins.
BBNZ Awards Dinner
The successful award winners are formally announced at the BBNZ Awards night, held at the Pipitea Marae & Function Centre in Wellington on Saturday 6 May 2023 from 6-10.30pm. To find out more and purchase tickets, go to nz.basketball/bbnzawards – hurry as ticket sales close on 5pm Wednesday 3 May for this amazing event!
Full list of Awards
- Legend Award
- Hall of Fame
- Sir Lance Cross Award (for Exceptional Services to basketball)
- Zena Gay Award (for notable contribution to women’s basketball)
- Murray McMahon Award (for notable contribution to men’s basketball)
- Male Player of the Year
- Female Player of the Year
- Most Valuable Player
- Carolyn Grey Award for Female Coach of the Year
- Keith Mair Award for Male Coach of the Year
- Lance McLoughlin Trophy for Female Junior Player of the Year
- Ambassadors Trophy for Male Junior Player of the Year
- Community Partnership Award
- Community Innovation Award
- Cedric Cudby Volunteer Award
- Young Official of the Year
- Services to Coaching Award
- Ian Goodwin Services to Officiating
- Long Service Awards
- Lifetime Achievement Award
- Life Membership
- Star Award
