The 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.

International-level distance runners were the winners of the June Gippstar Awards.

Stony Creek runner Kaila McKnight recently won a 1500-metre race in France and achieved an "A" qualifying standard for the Commonwealth Games in India.

Kaila, the current Australian 1500-metre track champion, is now hopeful of a place in the Australian team.

She is the June Senior Gippstar Award winner.

Sam Quirk from Mirboo North was selected for the World Schools Cross Country, recently held in Slovakia.

Sam finished 11th with the Australian team achieving third place.

He is the Junior Award winner.

Link to full story.

Our news stories are archived so that you can look back on the previous awards for the current Gippstar year.

Link to stories from "News" on the menu, or directly from here.

The Lakes Entrance senior women's surf boat team and Maffra Fire Brigade Juniors shared the 2009-10 Gippstar Teams Award.

The boat crew, comprising Carmel Henderson, Derena Carroll, Pip Timms and Denise Terjersen had won at the World Masters Games.

The fire brigade team have had an outstanding year, travelling to several state or interstate championships and consistently achieved top places.

 
    The  Maffra Junior Fire Brigade team.

 
 Tom Siinmaa during the Awards

Tom Siinmaa’s busy season in BMX racing includes top performances at the national and state level.

Amongst that were outstanding World Championship results with a fourth place in the 17 to 24 year Men's category and a sixth in the 17 to 24 year cruiser class.

 
      Alex Sheedy and Lisa Phillips

Tom won the 2009 - 10 Senior Gippstar Award.

The Junior Gippstar winners were basketballer Alex Sheedy and lawn bowler Lisa Phillips, both 17, who have recently been selected into national teams to represent Australia.

Alex has now been selected into the Australian Gems under-19 team, playing against the Philippines with further international tournaments scheduled.

Lisa’s outstanding bowling has won her selection for the Australian Youth Commonwealth Games Squad for next year’s Games in the Isle of Man.

The Games place follows from Phillips’ successful representation of Australia in the Trans Tasman Test against New Zealand where she was one of the most successful players.

Link to full story.

The 2009-10 Annual Gippstar Awards acknowledged five individuals who had shown long and outstanding service in their chosen sports.

The Special Award winners were John Bryant (motor sports), Cyril Metcalf (football), Jenny Mills (netball) and Howard Williams (volleyball).

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