Prizegiving

Time and location

The end-of-season prizegiving is typically held in the first week of September and, as of 2024, is held at the Paraparaumu Domain clubrooms.​​​​​​​

Types of prizes awarded

All players receive a certificate of participation for the season.

Each team also allocates certificates ,and trophies, for the following:

Most Valuable Player (MVP) - earned by the best-performing all-round player on the team. This could be a player who may understand the game better than most and performs at a consistently high level for their team. 

Note: Year 5 and above tackle grades have two MVP awards: MVP - Back, and MVP - Forward.

Most Improved Player - earned by the player whose playing abilities and/or understanding has improved (or developed) further than others within the team.

Best Sportsmanship - earned by the player who displays an outstanding attitude attributed to sportsmanship over the course of the season. This attitude may display fairness, empathy/respect to fellow team members, coaches, referees and opposition, while showing graciousness in winning or losing.

How awards are determined

PJRC introduced a new process for determining awards in the 2024 season, based around the principles of consistency, transparency and fairness. The process is as follows:

1. Convenors provide coaches with a message to send to all parents/caregivers inviting them to vote for each award. Within this message is a link to an online form and a link explaining the process (this page).
2. Interested parents/caregivers vote 
3. When the voting period has lapsed, a non-coaching PJRC committee representative (the only person with access to the data) removes the parent/caregiver name and their player's name (required for verification),  summarises the votes and provides the info to convenors, who present it to coaches. 
4. Coaches assess the information and have the final say on the allocation of awards. This is then communicated back through to the committee rep to finalise names for awards.

The PJRC Committee believes this new process balances parent/caregiver input with the unique perspectives coaches have for their teams, improving consistency, transparency and fairness in allocation of awards.

Upholding the integrity of the awards

Coaches may find themselves needing to make a difficult decision in the event of two strong candidates for an award.

In line with the principle of consistency, coaches may only select one player per award. PJRC does not fund additional awards nor endorse other means of splitting awards. This is because doing so dilutes the value of the awards, frustrates other coaches (many of whom have made difficult decisions), and ultimately undermines the principles outlined above.

Coaches/teams that wish to recognise players in their own way are welcome to organise team events, separate (but in addition to) the official PJRC Prizegiving.