The award recognises a programme or initiative which promotes water safety knowledge, skills and attitudes.
"Sport Otago's Skills 2 Swim initiative has been developed to improve swimming skills of children across Dunedin.
WSNZ is seeking to address a national decline in swimming ability of our youth ... and the Otago-based programme is a great example to the rest of the country of what can be achieved when communities recognise an issue and work collaboratively to seek solutions," Water Safety New Zealand manager Matt Claridge said.
"The initiative is broad in its approach and, through supporting access to pools, the provision of quality teaching, the collation of city-wide assessment data and continually updating schools on the level of achievement, is making a real difference in the swimming ability of Dunedin youth."
The initiative had improved swimming ability among the targeted age group from an initial baseline of 21% to 59% of children able to swim 200m, he said.
Sport Otago chief executive John Brimble thanked the Dunedin City Council, the Otago Community Trust and Sparc for assisting the programme.
Sport Otago received $5000 to further develop Skills 2 Swim.
Water Safety New Zealand was established in 1949 to improve water awareness and reduce drowning deaths.
