Talented and dedicated North Harbour youth were awarded at the North Harbour Club’s ‘Emerging Talent Awards’ on Thursday 15 June with 17 individuals acknowledged for their outstanding performances across the fields of Arts, Innovation, Music, Sport and Service to the Community.
2022 Commonwealth Games representative in diving, Maggie Squire, received an Emerging Talent Award sponsored by Bellingham Wallace, illustrating the calibre of the fellow winners in this category.
“I have high standards for my diving and education. I was scheduled to finish school in 2023, but was determined to finish a year early to focus on working towards Paris Olympic selection. This meant I had to skip a year ahead in the majority of my subjects and work really hard to achieve my NCEA excellence endorsements in both Level 2 and Level 3 in the same year,” says Squire.
Each receiving $7,500, fellow Emerging Talent Award winners included Anja Filip (Environmental Leader), Henry Meng (Pianist), Rico Bearman (BMX Athlete), Sarina Todd (Community Leader & Innovator), Sienna Going (Ballet Dancer), and Luke Sipkes (Diver).
In addition, ten AIMES Scholarship Awards were granted to excelling youth with $3,000 gifted to each recipient, sponsored by Vantage Windows & Doors North Shore.
Chess player, 13 year-old Isabelle Ning, was awarded as she strives to reach her dream of becoming a Grandmaster. She says there are over a thousand GMs in the world but only 40 of them are female.
“When I started to enjoy chess, I decided to take group lessons. After only four months of playing, I participated in the Auckland Girls Chess Champs, and to my surprise, I won the Under 8 group. After that, I was determined to be a good chess player because I loved the experience of my first ever tournament,” says Ning.
Fellow recipients include Alfie Steedman (Runner), Benji Groen (Ballet Dancer), George Lee Rush and Seb Menzies (Sailors), Jaden Movold (Para Athlete), Lauren Wycherley (Ballet Dancer), Madeleine Xiao (Pianist), Shan Liu (Pianist), and Yuzhang Wu (Pianist).
Each AIMES award winner is supported beyond the initial cash grant through the ‘AIMES Excellence Support Programme’ sponsored by Precise Homes. The programme provides an array of opportunities including a goodie bag with beauty and health products, and access to Shore Junction youth hub.
North Harbour Club President, Mike Atkinson, paid tribute to the founding members of the club and those who have supported it since its inception in 1995, gifting over $3 million dollars to date.
“Over the past year, the team and I have been incredibly impressed by the calibre of rising stars that applied for the AIMES Awards programme with almost 200 entries to consider. Of that, our Judges Panel found the best of the best Emerging Talent & Scholarship Award winners,” said Atkinson.
To find out more about the AIMES Awards programme - click here
Read the full programme of all our 2023 winners below
Thanks to the ongoing support of our fantastic sponsors
