The bankmecu Gippstar Awards acknowledge outstanding sporting achievements by Gippslanders. They have been running since 1960.

Monthly awards are made in senior and junior categories, with annual awards to the most outstanding achievers for the year.

bankmecu Awards for Australian champions

Australian champions won both senior and junior bankmecu GippStar Awards for April.

Longford athlete Mia Ross was the senior winner following her win in the Australian under-20 women's 800-metre Championship. She had also recently won the Victorian title for the same event and placed second in the under-20 Victorian 1500-metres.

Darcie Morton won the Australian girls' under-13 Table Tennis title and was a runner up in the doubles and mixed doubles. In Victoria Darcie is ranked top in her age group and second in the under-15s.

Link to full story.

Monthly winners

Monthly winners who are eligible for the 2012-13 Annual bankmecu Gippstar Awards are:

Senior
Daniel McConnell, mountain bike racing ( July 2012)
Samantha Crawford, archery (August)
Keith Ferguson, shooting (September)
Peter Bennett, archery (October)
Craig Huffer, running (October)
Jeff Bell, field archery (November)
Andrew Brady, clay target shooting (December)
Gary Maskiell, sailing (January)
Lisa Phillips, lawn bowls (February)
Mark Thorpe, sailing (March)
Mia Ross, running (April)

Junior
Taylah Bott, netball ( July 2011)
Maeve Coughlan, judo (August)
Josh Street, table tennis (September)
Maeve Coughlan, judo (October)
Cameron Goodison, triathalon (November)
Jasmine Doultree, swimming (December)
Aaron Nabulsi, judo (January)
Zoe Quinsy-Munro, athletics (February)
Ben Currrie, motorcycle racing (March)
Darcie Morton, table tennis (April)

Our news stories are archived so that you can look back at the previous monthly winners from 2007-08. Link directly from here.

Nominate a Gippsland star

Public nominations of worthy Gippsland sportsmen and women are welcome. Details are on our Nominations page.

Clinton & Damon win top Annual Awards

Clinton Jee has won the bankmecu Gippstar Senior winner for 2011/12.

 
Anthony Heinemann (bankmecu) with
Clinton Jee and Damon Morton's father

Jee represented Australian basketball at the INAS global games for para-athletes.

The national team improved on past results and finished fourth this year with Jee being a key player.

Damon Morton was the junior bankmecu Gippstar winner.

Morton is a top achiever in both biathlon and cross-country skiing with outstanding rankings in both open and junior events.

Morton won 7 of his 8 races in the Youth Olympic Selection races in cross country skiing and biathlon but he was a year too young to be eligible to compete in the Youth Olympics.

Sporting Champion, Teams & Club Awards

The Club of the Year Award was won by Twin City Archers in recognition of the national events being continually conducted by the club.

Georgia Tsebellis, Maggie O'Keefe, Erin
Roberts and Taylah Da Ros.

The Team of the Year category was won by the Australian record-breakers Georgia Tsebelis, Maggie O'Keefe, Erin Roberts and Taylah Da Ros.

The foursome, all members of the Traralgon Swimming Club, had taken the 14-and-under women's freestyle record.

Special Awards for Stalwarts

The 2010-11 Annual bankmecu Gippstar Awards recognised four individuals who have shown long and outstanding service to sport.

The Special Award winners were Poowong Netball Club's dedicated Janis Mackay, Trafalgar cricketer Graeme Rankin has amassed over 9,000 runs in cricket with his club, Warragul's Jean Nielsen for her selfless work with badminton, and Robert Thompson for his dedication to table tennis.