2020 Blues Awards Winners

Award for the Most Meritorious Innovation 

Taylor Grey  
Taylor Grey co-founded Radic Performance, the first company in the world to dedicate themselves the design and manufacturing of 3D printed mountain bike brakes, designed and made in NZ. 

Award for the Most Meritorious Performance (Arts and Cultural) 

Abdallah Alayan
Postgraduate student Abdallah was was finalist in the student category of the reowned 2019 Interior Awards for the design project 'Te Papa North' which was also recognised at the Best Awards with a Gold Pin for spatial excellence. Abdallah was also highly commended at the Auckland Architecture Association's Visionary Architecture for his work 'Faith in Fiordland' which was also profiled in the magazine Architecture NZ and as the cover story for the March New Zealand Listener Magazine. The work was created in the aftermath of the Christchurch terror attack and was described as being "premised on inclusivity and inspired with optimism"

Award for the Most Outstanding Contribution (Service and Leadership)

Sita Tarini Clark
Sita initiated and led a significant fundraising event for the CatWalk Trust, New Zealand’s Spinal Cord Injury Research Trust. ThirtyEight in 38 involved a team individually climbing Mauao (Mount Maunganui) 38 times, the equivalent height of Mount Everest, in 38 hours. The team raised publicity for people living with spinal cord injury in NZ, with social media and radio campaigns and exposure in print media as well as $33,674.81 in support of their mission.

Major Pasifika Award 

Sulu Fitzpatrick
Arts student Sulu was a member of the 2019 Central Pulse Netball Team that won the ANZ Netball Premiership. She was also selected in the 2019/2020 Silver Ferns Netball Development Squad and named as a non-travelling reserve for the Silver Ferns team in the 2019 Netball World Cup. This year, Sulu is a member of the Northern Mystics Netball team and the Silver Ferns Netball team.

Sportsman of the Year and Award for the Most Meritorious Performance (Sport) 

Michael Brake 
Engineering student Michael earnt silver at 2019 World Rowing Championships in Men's Pair, Austria. Additionally he received the Men's Pair Silver and Bronze at World Rowing Cups Two and Three respectively. 

Sportswoman of the Year 

Brianna Reynolds-Smith
Brianna is a Bachelor of Commerce student and sailor who, with her team mate, placed 15th at the 2019 470  World Championship in Enoshima in Japan, 7th at the Enoshima World Cup and 1st with the female team at the 2020 470 NZ Championships. Brianna is also part of the duo that qualified to represent New Zealand at the Tokyo Olympics in the 470 Womens Class.

Major Māori Award 

Isla Norman-Bell
Bachelor of Sport student Isla competed in the New Zealand Rugby Red Bull Ignite 7's Tournament and New Zealand Rugby 7's National Tournament, placing first and third respectively. Isla was also named the most valuable player for the second year at the Ignite Tournament. She was invited to the New Zealand Black Ferns 7's development team. Isla is also a current New Zealand Open Women's Touch Black, competing at the 2020 Trans-Tasman Tournament.

Para-athlete

Anna Steven 
Anna, a student in the Faculty of Science, was selected to represent New Zealand in the T64 100m and T64 200m at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai, placing 7th in the 200m final and 14th overall in the 100m - a new Oceania Area Record.