From 22 finalists, 14 individuals and businesses from throughout the district won accolades in the 2009 Central Otago Awards, organised and hosted by the Central Otago District Council.
Apprentice awards were given to Alexandra residents Kurt Verduyn for overall excellence in carpentry and Morgan Boyd for developing potential in the past year with automotive refinishing.
Both are employed by the 4Trades Apprenticeship Training Trust, through which Kurt works for Central Blue and Morgan for Vincent Holdings.
Youth awards went to Rowan Tumai (18), of Roxburgh, for leadership and community service, Margot Streeter (16), of Cromwell, for culture and Willie Miller (16), of Ranfurly, for enterprise.
Alexandra secondary school pupil Kate Willyams (18) received a special youth award for her outstanding talent across a range of categories.
The Cromwell Top 10 Holiday Park, which is owned and operated by Kay and John Searle, Richard Wallis, and Catherine Woods, won a tourism award.
Jackie Hamilton, from Cromwell Pharmacy, was rewarded with a business excellence award, and Ray Carey, of Alexandra, won the brand ambassador award for promoting Central Otago on his Terrace Distributors trucks.
Community service awards were given to Joanne Rae, of Millers Flat; Linda Armstrong, of Becks; Stewart McKnight, of Ranfurly; Ruth Reid, of Alexandra; and Hazel Harrison, of Naseby.
All award recipients were given trophies hand-crafted by Roxburgh artist Bill Clark.
Icebreaker founder and director Jeremy Moon, guest speaker at the function, talked about the importance of building relationships in business and standing out from the crowd.
"There are some wonderful people in this room who have achieved wonderful things for this community, so I think it's a great idea to celebrate them and the work they have done," he said.
