There has been a tweak to the Otago Sports awards which will allow franchise teams, such as the Highlanders, and their players, into the mix.
Nominations have closed for the awards which cover from April 1 last year to the end of last month. The awards evening is set for May 20.
The awards have been held in an ever-changing sporting landscape in which it is no longer as simple to pick just Otago-based athletes and Otago-based teams for the awards.
Many sports, such as rowing and cycling, want to base their athletes in the one place in the country for training and expertise coaching, which makes it hard for competitors to stay in their home area.
World champion rower Hamish Bond is one example.
He has dominated the awards in past years but has not lived in Otago for many years.
The world-class rower is based at Cambridge as part of the New Zealand high-performance programme and trains at nearby Lake Karapiro. But he still rows at the national championships for the North End club, of Dunedin and for the Southern Regional Performance Centre.
At a team level, it is no longer straightforward to just pick strictly Otago-based teams.
With sports going professionals, teams have become franchises and are no longer picked strictly on provincial lines.
The Highlanders, though based in the South, are now a privately-owned franchise with players from many different provincial teams.
Sport Otago business development manager Aaron Joy said the awards had been tweaked to allow franchise teams, such as the Highlanders and the Steel netball side, into the categories.
For individuals, the rule will be that if the candidate no longer lives in Otago or is not associated with an Otago club then they are not eligible. However, they can live out of the area but still be in the mix if they still participate for an Otago club. Bond is an obvious example of this.
Individuals who play for franchise teams, such as All Black halfback Aaron Smith, will be eligible for individual awards. Joy said the franchise players lived in Otago and played for a southern-based team so were eligible for the individual awards.
Former Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum won the overall award last year.
