Halberg Awards

The Halberg Awards are a set of awards given annually recognising New Zealand's top sporting achievements.

The annual award was started in 1949 by NZ Sportsman magazine founder Jack Fairburn. The original inscription on the trophy was Fairburn's words: "The New Zealand Sportsman's Trophy to be awarded annually to the New Zealand athlete whose personal performances or example, has had the most beneficial effect on the advancement of sport in the country". Awarding of the New Zealand Sportsman's Trophy ceased along with publication of NZ Sportsman in 1960. The rules were altered in 1971 to allow teams to win the award, which that year went to the New Zealand eight. The latest awards ceremony was held on 9 February 2017.

The trophy was restarted by the Halberg Disability Sport Foundation (named for athlete Sir Murray Halberg), which amended the wording of the inscription in line with the manner in which it granted the Award. The Awards are presented at a dinner which traditionally rotates between the New Zealand cities of Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland, and which in recent years has been broadcast live on television.

The award was expanded to include New Zealand Sportswoman of the year, New Zealand Team of the year, Sky Sport Coach of the year, Emerging Talent and Halberg Disability Sport Foundation Disabled Sportsperson of the Year awards, as well as the Lion Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, the Sport New Zealand Leadership Award and an award for New Zealand's Favourite Sporting Moment. The award was eventually renamed in Murray Halberg's honour, and since then the supreme award has been known as the Halberg award.

The Awards help the Halberg Disability Sport Foundation to raise funds, which are then used to enhance the lives of physically disabled young people, their families and communities, by enabling them to participate in sport.

The annual award was started in 1949 by NZ Sportsman magazine founder Jack Fairburn as a marketing venture for his business. At the time, the title was "Sportsman of the Year Award". In 1958, Fairburn sold his magazine, and the award ran for two more years before it was discontinued. A charity set up by the 1958 winner, Murray Halberg, continued the event from 1963 onwards. The Halberg Disability Sport Foundation renamed the award in 1987 to Halbert Awards, and started having gender-specific awards, introducing the Supreme Award as a new category chosen from all other award categories.

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