Marlborough wine has done it again.

Wineries in Marlborough have another reason to celebrate after winning nearly half of the trophies at the Air New Zealand wine awards.

The awards were dominated by Marlborough and Hawkes Bay, with each region winning eight trophies. Central Otago picked up two trophies.

Marlborough winners were: Goldwater Sauvignon Blanc 2008, which won both the champion sauvignon blanc and champion new world white wine trophies, Daniel Le Brun Blanc de Blanc 2000, Forrest The Doctors Riesling 2008, Shingle Peak Reserve Pinot Gris 2008, Hunter’s Gewurztraminer 2008, Forrest The Doctors’ Noble Chenin Blanc 2008, Nautilus Four Barriques Pinot Noir 2007.

Nautilus Estate winemaker Clive Jones said he was pleasantly surprised to win the Kapiti Champion Exhibition Red Wine Trophy.

The wine was a blend of what they considered the best in the cellar in any particular year.

Forrest Estate owner John Forrest said he was a man of riesling, so to see The Doctors’ Riesling 2008 win acknowledged his passion for the variety.

Winning the Wineworks Champion Medium Sweet of Sweet Wine Trophy with the Forrest The Doctors’ Noble Chenin Blanc 2008 was brilliant, he said.

It is the fourth time in seven years, Forrest Estate has won this trophy.

Goldwater Estate owner Peter Scutts said their style had won the judges over.

“We’re very excited, obviously the judges liked the style … we picked before the rain and we picked for flavour, rather than the more technical sweetness or sugar levels.”

For Hunter’s managing director Jane Hunter the trophy topped off a winning end of week for the winery.

The Gewurztraminer 2008 followed up a win in the Royal Hobart Wine Show on Thursday with the Label and Litho Champion Gewurztraminer Trophy on Saturday.

“We’ve been growing gewurztraminer since 1982.

“It’s been a long time coming … everyone’s been focusing on pinot gris in the aromatics but we’ve kept on with gewurztraminer.”

New Zealand Winegrowers chairman Stuart Smith said it was great to see so many different wineries win trophies and not just one dominate the night.

Everyone was in celebration mode on Saturday night at the awards, which was attended by more than 700 people, Mr Smith said.

A panel of 26 judges picked the winning wines.

The champion wine of the show was awarded to Church Road’s 2007 Reserve Syrah which beat off competition from a record number of entries, 1751 in total.

Hawkes Bay also impressed the judges with its Crossroads Winery’s 2007 Elms Vineyard Reserve Vidal Reserve Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2007, Villa Maria Single Estate Omahu Gravels Viognier 2007, Selaks The Favourite Merlot Cabernet 2007, Trinity Hill Gimblett Gravels Hawkes Bay Tempranillo 2007 and Villa Maria Estate Reserve Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2006.

Central Otago wines’ two trophies were both for Rockburn Pinot Noir 2007.

Originally posted by Rachel Young and Cherie Howie.

BragThis.com, the social network for sharing bragging rights, announced release of a social awards and trophies feature in its latest set of upgrades. The awards and trophies system adds further pats on the back to BragThis.com users. BragThis.com webmasters can award users for accomplishing specific goals or giving notice to bragging rights of special merit.

New York, NY (PRWEB) September 16, 2008 — BragThis.com, the social network for sharing bragging rights, announced release of a social awards and trophies feature in its latest set of upgrades. The awards and trophies system adds further pats on the back to BragThis.com users. BragThis.com webmasters can award users for accomplishing specific goals or giving notice to bragging rights of special merit.

With the launch of the awards system, BragThis.com gave out 3 initial awards. 1st to Boast 50 Stars was awarded to the user that first totaled 50 stars or points for posting their bragging rights. The Master Builder award was given to a user for automobile ingenuity. Finally, the He’s on Fire award was given to a talented billiard player who posted a video of a trick shot. Awards add to the total point score of a user and can be posted to their favorite social network such as MySpace.com or Facebook.com.

BragThis.com launched in mid June and is off to a promising start. Executive Manager Michael Evan Reiss states that “the statistics are very positive from the users we have had during this beta period.” BragThis.com boasts an average of 6.41 pages/visit which according to Google is 210% of the average for smaller sized social networks*. Also, 8.5% of BragThis.com’s visitors viewed 20 or more pages*.

Mr. Reiss believes the site is poised for significant growth in the social network market share, but not until several additional key features are installed and tested. These new enhancements will be heavily responsible for driving first time visitor traffic and expanding the existing revenue streams already in place.

About BragThis.com
Created by entrepreneur and technology enthusiast Michael Evan Reiss, BragThis.com is the latest venture of Advertology, LLC. BragThis.com is a social boasting website that explores the activities of its users in an entertaining and humorous fashion. BragThis.com is currently released as a Beta; several new features and greater levels of interactivity are scheduled to be released at later dates.

Originated by Google Analytics

Trophy News From Pakistan

The International Cricket Council said it could drop the Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi as one of the three venues for September’s Champions Trophy.

Eliminating Rawalpindi, which adjoins the capital Islamabad, would leave all the trophy matches to be played in the southern port city of Karachi and the eastern cultural capital of Lahore.

“It is a strong possibility that we will reduce the Champions Trophy to two venues but the event will be played in Pakistan,” ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said during a visit to Rawalpindi Stadium.

Lorgat is leading a high-profile six-man ICC task force which is here to oversee security arrangements for the trophy amid threats of a boycott by some non-Asian teams.

The ICC last month decided to keep the biennial event in Pakistan despite security concerns raised by players from Australia, New Zealand, England and South Africa.

The players associations of these countries and FICA had called for a relocation of the trophy over player safety following a series of suicide bombings in Pakistan.

Local media reports said Rawalpindi stadium, where renovation work is well behind schedule, may be dropped.

Lorgat said security could not be assessed at Rawalpindi as it did not host any matches in the recent Asia Cup.

“During the Asia Cup there were no fixtures at Rawalpindi and that didn’t provide us an opportunity to check the security arrangements, so there was no way we can formulate an opinion on Rawalpindi,” Mr Lorgat said.

“We are trying to explore whether we might use only Lahore and Karachi and take a decision soon.”

The taskforce also met security officials, including senior interior ministry officials.

The suicide bombings in Pakistan prompted Australia to postpone their planned tour of the country in March.

Originally Written by the ABC News Staff

Modeled after a real prize-winning pig, the spirit of good sportsmanship embodied by Floyd lives on in the form of a 15 1/2-inch high, 21-inch long bronze statue of the prize hog. The sculpture was commissioned by Governor Olson and created by Charles Brioschi, a St. Paul artist.

Every year, since 1935, these two border-state rivals have fought for the right to display the bronze pig in their own trophy case. During that span, Minnesota has won Floyd 39 times, Iowa has won 31, and there have been two ties.

After 6 winning years, Minnesota won the trophy last year with a 34-24 win.

This years’ game will take place Saturday, November 10th, when the Golden Gophers travel to Iowa to take on the Hawkeyes at Kinnick Stadium.

>Get a special Football Trophy for your winning team

Here are the contest details on YouTube:

“Show Us Your Trophy” contest  – Crown Awards wants you to show us your trophy. Actually, we want you to show it…to the world!

Ever win an award that you’re really proud of (or, not)? Just shoot a short video describing your award-winning experience and you’ll be entered into the contest. How did you win that chili cook-off medal, bowling trophy, scout badge, or employee-of-the-month plaque? Share it and you might win a prize

1 First Prize: $500 cash + a trophy engraved with your name!
5 Runner-up Prizes: $25 cash + a trophy engraved with your name!

Submit videos to: http://www.youtube.com/group/trophies

Contest ends 12/31/07 – Official Contest Rules: http://www.crownawards.com/CrownContest.html

About Crown Awards:
Visit Crown Awards for the best selection of trophies, awards, medals, plaques and more.