Capitalising on a city full of talent

The Dominion Post has been previewing this year’s finalists in the Wellingtonian Of The Year Awards. This week, we look at the final three categories – science and technology, sport and youth.

Thousands of people influence the capital’s unique character, making the select few nominated for The Wellys the cream of the city’s crop.

Nowhere does this talent shine more than in this week’s three featured categories; recognising Wellingtonians’ intellectual capital, celebrating those involved in sport in any capacity, and acknowledging the youth who are shaping tomorrow’s Wellington.

Thirteen nominees feature across this week’s three categories of The Dominion Post-sponsored Wellingtonian Of The Year Awards.

Their achievements continue the decades-long tradition of saluting notable Wellingtonians who are making strides across all sectors of the community.

Take last year’s science and technology category winner as an example; Dr Nancy Bertler is a pioneer of climate research.

The associate professor at Victoria University’s Antarctic Research Centre has led 13 expeditions to Antarctica, and manages the New Zealand Ice Core Research Laboratory at GNS Science.

As well as having authored multiple published research papers over a 13-year timeframe, Bertler received a Blake Leader award last year for outstanding leadership midcareer.

Dane Coles, Hurricane’s hooker and All Black player during the team’s successful 2015 Rugby World Cup campaign, is another example of the The Wellys’ high benchmark.

Taking out last year’s sporting category and the Wellingtonian Of The Year title, he became one of the city’s favourite sons after captaining the Hurricanes to their first Super Rugby title.

The All Blacks starting hooker is widely acknowledged as the best in the game.

Seventeen-year-old Benjamin Bell also illustrated the depth of talent from Wellington’s up-andcomers, winning last year’s youth category.

The self-described entrepreneur’s achievements include presenting his Wellbands project – a more useful method of finding patients – at Stanford MedicineX in California, hosting a Startup Weekend event, delivering a TEDx talk, and being the youngest participant in the R9 Accelerator 2.0 scheme.

Time and again, The Wellys represent the very best Wellington has to offer; this year’s candidates are no different.