The Chancellor’s Award for Contribution to Sport was awarded to leading rowing coach, boat race official and administrator Nick Hunter OAM.
The Bywong local graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Sports Studies in 1986, the same year he joined the board of Rowing ACT, and was part of the Australian rowing team that competed at the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games. He has since coached multiple national crews, including the Australian double-scull at the 2012 London Paralympic Games. In 2014, he was the first Australian appointed to the FISA World Rowing Umpiring Commission, responsible for rowing officials’ education in Oceania and Asia.
He currently works as a Performance Manager at the Australian Institute of Sport and holds fond memories of his time at the University of Canberra.
“The course I was doing was the first dedicated sports studies course in Australia at the time, so there was a real excitement about what we were doing. My degree gave me the skills and knowledge that I have been able to carry, and still carry, to this day,” he said.
“I am on a campaign to change the way the officiating works with athletes and coaches to make it much more empathetic with the athletes they officiate for. I also want to do what I can to support people as they go through their early stages of adulthood in developing good habits of health and physical exercise.”
