'Tis the season to start patting people on the back for a job well done in sport.
Up and down the country athletes, coaches, administrators and volunteers are receiving accolades for what they have achieved and contributed to this institution we call sport at the local, regional, national and international level.
Internationally, New Zealanders have been doing pretty well in this department.
Although he may be disappointed with the Kiwi performance at the Rugby League World Cup, Sonny Bill Williams was named world player of the year, the first Kiwi to receive such an honour.
Kieran Read was named IRB player of the year, at an awards function dominated by the All Blacks, and earlier this year, Kayla McAlister, a newcomer to the sport of sevens but with rugby running through her veins, won women's sevens player of the year.
Others came close but came away empty-handed.
Despite winning her fourth world title at the Moscow championships, Valerie Adams, one of three finalists for the International Athletic Federation's athlete of the year award, missed out to Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
If the anti-doping watchdogs find anything shady about the Jamaican athletics team, perhaps Adams will receive the award post-hoc like she did her gold medal at the London Olympics? Either way, to be named as one of the top three female athletes in the world is a remarkable effort.
Closer to home, canoeing star Lisa Carrington won the Albie Pryor Memorial at the Maori sports awards, beating what ended up being a rugby-dominated line-up to win the supreme award.
The Maori sports awards historically have provided an opportunity for some of the minority sports and athletes in New Zealand to receive some limelight, but that is slowly changing. Among the winners were Glen Jackson (referee), Maori All Blacks (team), Sean Horan (coach), Tyla Nathan-Wong (junior sportswoman) and Joe Edwards (junior sportsman).
Considering the dominance of rugby this year, it was great to also see woodchopping legend and winner of numerous awards Jason Wynyard win the senior Maori sportsman of the year award.
Not that receiving these awards is the motivating force that keeps these individuals and teams achieving at high levels. Well, you would hope that was not their primary source of motivation and inspiration.
Receiving an award, nonetheless, is flattering, boosts the ego, helps the CV look good, gets media attention - which is great for sponsorship and future opportunities - and profiles your sport, your country, and whatever you stand for.
With the New Zealand rugby awards tonight, and nominations for the Halberg awards closing tomorrow, it will be interesting to see who gets their 15 seconds of fame and possibly fortune.
It is always tough comparing apples with oranges, and even tougher comparing apple varieties. With my feminist hat on, it is great to see the likes of Rob Jones, champion of schoolgirls' rugby in the Manawatu, being nominated for the Charles Monro rugby volunteer of the year. And Nicky Inwood has been involved in refereeing women's rugby for years, so deserves some acknowledgement.
Kelly Brazier and Portia Woodman will be up against it for the women's sevens player of the year with IRB winner McAlister in their category, but Brazier gets another go at it with an additional nomination as women's player of the year along with Black Ferns stalwart Casey Robertson and sensational try-scoring whippet Selica Winiata, whose winning try for the Black Ferns is also up for the fans' try of the year.
It is disappointing the women's sevens team was not nominated for team of the year as its male counterpart was, considering both won their pinnacle event, but it appears the awards are becoming more a measure of consistent performance, rather than annual performance.
It took the Black Ferns, for instance, four World Cup victories before they eventually won the team of the year award, so the women's sevens team has a few more victories to go before it pushes for recognition.
It will not happen overnight, but it will happen - eventually. In the meantime, give yourselves a pat on the back and keep doing what you do well.
