Southland Awards Committee resigns

Bruce Stewart Journalist

The news that all the members of the Southland Harness Awards Committee have resigned was broken at last night’s President’s meeting in Gore.

A statement released by the committee said that ‘the current social media environment and the availability of the “web” meant events are celebrated in real time and are forever available online. This has impacted on the appeal of the awards evening and the sale of tickets to the annual event has become increasingly more difficult. It is now time for someone else to step up to the barrier and drive home the awards for this year and into the future,’ it said.

Jan Holms and Brendan Fahy having been on the committee since its inception. Alex Milne joined in  1990, Karen Milne in 1992, Clark Barron and Peter Hunter in 2000, and Nicole Elliott and Neville Skinner in 2006. Other committee members have been Russell Kerr who served for 30 years, Daryl McLellan, Graham Cooney and Wayne Deegan.

Southland Awards Committee on their 30th Anniversary night - Russell Kerr, Clark Barron, Nicole Elliot, Neville Skinner, Jan Holms, Brendan Fahy, Karen Milne, Peter Hunter and Alex Milne.

The Southland Harness Awards were first held in 1988. The inaugural winners were Peter Burns (Personality of the Year), Fair Chip (Horse of the Year), Dream Melody (Broodmare of the Year) and Cardigan Bay (Horse honoured in 1988).

Additional categories have been added over the years with the Award of Excellence introduced in 1997 and the Elite Broodmare first awarded to Bella Ragazzo in 2002.

Over the years the group has also produced the Southern Harness Directory and has sponsored many races on the Southland Harness Racing calendar.

DB Draught was the major sponsor for the 90s, then Bryleigh Stud followed by Cullen Breeding from 2001-02 until 2016-17. Southern Harness Racing Inc then sponsored for two years and since then the event has operated on its own account.

These awards have been an integral part of Southland Harness Racing and an opportunity for the industry to recognise and celebrate breeders, owners, trainers and drivers who have attained success. No doubt many hope another format, more suited to today’s world, can be found to replace the Awards Dinner.