Wells (18) won the Bruce Grant Memorial Trophy for the overall winner at a function in Cromwell last night.
Sport Central co-ordinator Bill Godsall said Wells was a popular winner and joined a select list of Central Otago athletes who had won the trophy.
"Wells has thrown a spotlight on the sport of freeskiing with his breakthrough results in 2008 which led him to win the emerging talent award at this year's Halberg Awards," Godsall said.
Wells won gold medals at the Nippon Open Big Air competition, the King of the Mountain in the United States and the World Superpipe Championships.
Four other top-five results in open men's international competitions illustrated the heights Wells had reached, Godsall said.
Wells also won the award for the best Central Otago junior sportsman.
The coach of the year award went to Tom Willmott, of Wanaka, who has also just been named as one of six high performance coaches selected for the Sparc Coach Accelerator programme.
Alexandra cyclist Sophie Williamson was chosen as the junior sportswoman. She holds national titles in road, track and mountain biking.
The Wakatipu High School ice hockey team was the team of the year.
It won the South Island secondary schools tournament, and the side included provincial and national representatives in the sport.
Wanaka triathlete Merryn Johnston won the senior sportswoman award. She is in her first year as a professional athlete and competed well in Europe as well as locally in the Ironman discipline.
Disabled skier Adam Hall, of Wanaka, was named senior sportsman of the year. He won three gold medals in national competition in 2008 as well as the same number of gold medals in international competition.
The John Fitzharris Memorial Trophy for services to sport was awarded to Russell Mills, of Alexandra.
