The 2022 NSW Sports Awards are the highest sports honours in the state and the 12 category winners will be revealed at the prestigious rebel NSW Champions of Sport ceremony at the International Convention and Exhibition Centre in Darling Harbour on Monday, November 28.
Local surfer Mark ‘Mono’ Stewart has been nominated for Athlete of the Year with a Disability – Mono won gold in the 2021 World Para Surfing Championships in the Men’s Kneel and also took out the famous US Open Adaptive Surfing Champions for the Open Men’s Kneel. He was named male Para surfer of the year in 2022.
He is a strong advocate to bring a leg of the professional adaptive circuit to Australia in 2023 and into the 2028 Los Angeles Para Olympic games.
Ceremony attended by sport’s elite
The ceremony will be attended by the elite of NSW sport and the Awards celebrate the achievements of NSW athletes, coaches, administrators, officials, and organisations.
The Awards ceremony will also unveil Brad Dalton (Basketball), Craig Johnston (Football), Phil Kearns AM (Rugby Union), Joanne ‘Joey’ Peters (Football), Prashanth Sellathurai (Gymnastics) and Liesl Tesch AM (Wheelchair Basketball & Para Sailing) as the newest inductees into the NSW Hall of Champions.
Among the list of category finalists are:
• Four-time Athlete of the Year winner, paddler Jessica Fox, a finalist for Athlete of the Year
• Fox’s mother and coach, Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, a Coach of the Year finalist
• Two-time Athlete of the Year winner, surfer Stephanie Gilmore, an Athlete of the Year finalist
• Two-time Athlete of the Year with a Disability winner, para-triathlete Lauren Parker, a finalist for Athlete of the Year with a Disability
• 2021 Young Athlete of the Year with a Disability winner, para-swimmer Timothy Hodge, a finalist for Athlete of
• 2021 Young Athlete of the Year winner, diver Sam Fricker, a category finalist for 2022
• 2021 Masters Athlete of the Year winner, archer Elizabeth Hole, a category finalist for 2022
Sixty-three finalists
Sport NSW Chairperson, Carolyn Campbell, congratulated all 63 finalists across the 12 Award categories saying they performed outstandingly and made an immense contribution to their sport. ‘These worthy finalists have excelled at the highest levels, and we congratulate them on their magnificent achievements over the past 12 months.
This year’s finalists in each category demonstrated the tremendous depth of talent in NSW sport.
‘Sport in NSW is blessed to produce so many exceptional athletes, coaches, administrators, and officials. This is a credit to their brilliant individual efforts, but also to the teams of dedicated and unselfish support staff, family, and friends who, behind the scenes, made such an immense contribution.
‘These category finalists join a magnificent assembly of previous athletes, coaches, administrators, officials, and organisations who have been considered as finalists in the most prestigious sports Awards NSW offers.’
‘Sport is the common language which binds communities together across NSW. Sport promotes healthy living and drives societal change, and our finalists are wonderful examples of inspiration for athletes, coaches and administrators of all ages and abilities.’
Tickets to the Champions of Sport Ceremony are available to the public by visiting www.sportnsw.com.au.
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