Prime Minister's Athlete Scholarships
Prime Minister's Athlete Scholarships
The Prime Minister’s Athlete Scholarship Programme is managed by SPARC and administered by the New Zealand Academy of Sport regional operations. Scholarships are aligned to SPARC’s High Performance Strategy 2006-2012 and must impact on SPARC’s high performance mission of ‘more New Zealanders winning on the world stage.’
The goal of the programme is to assist talented and elite athletes achieve tertiary and vocational qualifications while pursuing excellence in sport.
The Government established the Prime Minister's Athlete Scholarships in late 2000 to enable emerging and talented New Zealanders to concurrently pursue tertiary study and elite level sport development.
The Programme pays fees up to $10,000 a year and a living allowance of up to $4,000 a year to successful scholarship recipients, dependent on the athlete’s sporting performance and study load.
There is also a Gold-level Scholarship, which helps athletes study after they are carded and/or retire. Learn more about the Gold-level Scholarship.
2010 Prime Minister’s Athlete Scholarship Programme changes
Changes have been made to ensure a better fit with SPARC’s high performance strategy and its aim of having New Zealanders winning on the world stage. The changes are:
- a reduction in the amount being allocated to the Prime Ministers Athlete Scholarship programme from $2.325m to $2m per annum; and
- the athlete living allowance has been fixed at $2000 per six months for all athlete scholarship recipients.
If you have further questions about these changes please contact your Prime Minister’s Athlete Scholarship Coordinator at the NZAS.
2010 Athlete Scholarships
In 2010, approximately 350 athletes were awarded scholarships. Below is the list of 2010 recipients as at 21 December 2009:
2010 eligibility criteria
Applicants must satisfy all of the following criteria:
- Be capable of impacting on SPARC's High Performance mission, "More New Zealanders winning on the world stage". Any athlete from any sport may be able to impact this mission. Carded athletes in the supported sports and athletes receiving PEG's are already recognised as being able to impact SPARC's High Performance mission.
- Be endorsed by their NSO leading up to and during the scholarship
- Have met all athlete requirements whilst studying under scholarship in the previous 12 months, unless the NZAS agrees otherwise (athletes re-applying for a scholarship only)
Your National Sporting Organisation must also have met all of its requirements for any of the four Prime Minister's Scholarship Programmes before your application can be considered.
Who will receive a Scholarship for 2010?
With the funds available, it is unlikely that all applicants will receive a scholarship in 2009. Therefore applications will be assessed and prioritised by an assessment panel. The selection criteria are outlined in the Programme Guide 2010 (PDF, 246 KB) and applicants prioritised for a scholarship are likely to be:
- World class athletes and/or athletes receiving PEGs
- Level 1 carded athletes
- Level 2 carded athletes
- Level 3 carded athletes
- Level 4 carded athletes and other athletes who have the potential to impact SPARC’s high performance mission.
What qualifications are eligible?
Athletes may enrol in any tertiary or vocational qualification that appears on the New Zealand Register of Quality Assured Qualifications. This includes most university and polytechnic qualifications, teaching courses and trade courses. The education provider (eg, the university or polytechnic) must be a New Zealand organisation.
How do I apply for a scholarship in 2010?
If you are planning to apply for a scholarship in 2010 you will need to:
- Contact your National Sport Organisation (NSO) for their eligibility criteria and deadline date, which will be no later than 1 December 2009.
- Discuss your application with your Coach, Performance Planner and / or Athlete Life Advisor (if you have one).
- From mid October 2009 you may complete your application form online. Before going online to complete your application you can prepare with the draft application form (Word, 54 KB).
- If you are a Gold Level Scholarship applicant you MUST SUBMIT a hard copy application (Word, 169 KB).
- Submit a complete application.
Written notification on the outcome of your application will be provided by the New Zealand Academy of Sport by 24 December 2009.
Receiving payments
Fees are paid directly to the relevant education provider. Athletes' living allowances are credited to their nominated bank accounts.
To maintain payments, you must:
- pass all of your study,
- submit an electronic six-month progress report at the end of each six-month period (due 1 July and 1 December each year),
- attend an anti-doping seminar in the first 12 months in which the scholarship is awarded and once every alternate year thereafter whilst on scholarship; and
- meet any tax and income declaration requirements.
Change of contact details
If you have changed your contact details after your application has been submitted or after you submitted your previous six-monthly progress report, please complete the Change of Contact Details form.
Where can I find out more information?
Full conditions on which scholarships are awarded are set out in the plain-English Programme Guide 2010 (PDF, 246 KB). Contact your Athlete Life Advisor or the Prime Minister's Athlete Scholarship coordinator at your nearest NZ Academy of Sport regional operation if you have further queries.
Updated | 22 Dec 2009.
Skip page tools.
