Andrew Reiner Trophy: Jack Luke-Paredi and George Bartley

The Andrew Reiner Trophy is granted to the best performed pair in the primary target international event, taking account of performance in the event itself, commitment and preparation and contribution to team success.
Winners for 2023 are Jack Luke-Paredi and George Bartley.
The international event was the Netherlands.

Helman-Klinger Achievement Award: Kate Macdonald

The Helman-Klinger Achievement Award for the Australian Youth Bridge Player whose ability, achievements, sportsmanship, attitude, contribution and commitment during the calendar year are most deservingly went to Kate Macdonald.

Helman-Klinger Masterpoint Award: Kate Macdonald (145.05)

Hills-Hurley Trophy: Alexis Wilsmore and Jade Wilkinson

The Hills-Hurley Trophy, awarded to Alexis Wilsmore and Jade Wilkinson is intended to encourage young bridge players to form long-standing partnerships and reward a successful pair who has developed a well-organised partnership to harness their full potential.

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Andrew Reiner Trophy: Jamie Thompson and Matt Smith

This award is granted to the best performed pair in the primary target international event, taking account of performance in the event itself, commitment to preparation and contribution to team success. Matt and Jamie finished 2nd in Pairs in Croatia, with Jamie ranked 3rd overall this year.
Over the year, the pair was the standout pair on the Australian Youth Team. Competing in the Netherlands, Thailand, Sweden and Croatia they consistently bought back positive results and catapulted Australia into open and youth final series over the year.

Helman-Klinger Achievement Award: Nico Ranson

This award, worth $400 annually and supplemented with a further $200 from the Friends of Youth Bridge Fund, is presented each year to the Australian Youth Bridge Player whose ability, achievements, sportsmanship, attitude, contribution and commitment during the calendar year are most deserving. Nico started this year with winning the Youth Teams and finishing 4th in the Australian Junior Teams Selection. Nico played in all 4 junior internationals in 2019 and worked hard with John McMahon to develop a top notch system that would work well against the world’s best. Between world events, Nico went on to win the Youth teams at the ANC and came 4th in the VCC. Nico was always keen to take advice from top players to better his game. He also help with other youth players by giving advice and organising events throughout the year.

Helman-Klinger Masterpoint Award: John McMahon (155.14)

This award, worth $200 annually and supplemented with a further $100 from the Friends of Youth Bridge Fund, is awarded to the Australian Youth Player who earns the most masterpoints in the calendar year in question. John had good successes in Youth Week 2019, and the Summer Festival immediately after. He had great finishes in the Gold Coast, VCC and the GNOT. His major victory was the Youth ANC, where he captained the team*, almost undefeated into the finals and won convincingly.

*Correction: It was actually his brother Charles who was captain.

Hills-Hurley Trophy: Renee Cooper and Andrew Spooner

This trophy, donated by Richard Hills and Steve Hurley, is intended to encourage talented young bridge players to form long-standing partnerships and reward a successful pair who has developed a well-organised partnership to harness their full potential. This partnership formed at the start of the year. Both players put in a lot of work in building their partnership. They were part of the Australian contingent at Sweden and Croatia and performed exceptionally.

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Andrew Reiner Trophy: Tomer Libman and Andrew Spooner

This award is granted to the best performed pair in international competition taking account of performance in the events themselves, commitment to preparation and contribution to team success
In the view of the NPC, all 3 pairs played well, and accordingly there wasn’t a lot that separated their achievements while overseas. What was noted was that while Tomer and Andrew were the least experienced at this level, the amount of work they put into preparing themselves for the event, and the way they played, gave their team every chance of success.

Helman-Klinger Achievement Award: Matt Smith

This award, worth $400 annually and supplemented with a further $200 from the Friends of Youth Bridge Fund, is presented each year to the Australian Youth Bridge Player whose ability, achievements, sportsmanship, attitude, contribution and commitment during the calendar year are most deserving.
Matt started the year in the best possible way by finishing first in the youth butler, guaranteeing a spot on the 2018 youth team. A run of decent results early in the year got him in perfect form to take out both the ANOT Swiss pairs and the VCC teams.
Matt was also a member of the winning NSW youth team at the ANC before travelling to NZ where he played with Andrew Spooner. They went on to make the semi finals of the NZ teams before winning the Australia vs NZ test match.
Matt also had strong results in the Spring Nationals, missing the finals by 1 imp and losing the semi final of the Australian playoff to the eventual winners.
Matt has been known over many years to have a great attitude at the table and also away from the table. Matt runs youth bridge nights in Sydney, and takes an interest in improving not only his own bridge but the bridge of those around him by giving up his time to improve other youth players’ games. Matt was also the recipient of the IPBA award for Junior Deal of the Year for his declarer play in the Youth ANC.
Congratulations Matt Smith.

Helman-Klinger Masterpoint Award: Ella Pattison

This award, worth $200 annually and supplemented with a further $100 from the Friends of Youth Bridge Fund, is awarded to the Australian Youth Player who earns the most masterpoints in the calendar year in question.
This year’s winner is Ella Pattison with 169.48 masterpoints. Matt Smith had the highest MP total, but as a previous winner was ineligible to win it again.

Hills-Hurley Trophy: Nico Ranson and John McMahon

This trophy, donated by Richard Hills and Steve Hurley, is to encourage talented young bridge players in forming long-standing partnerships and reward successful pairs which have developed a well-organised partnership to harness their full potential.
John and Nico started the year on a sad note, just missing out on making the 2018 youth team, losing by 15 imps in the 3rd place playoff. In the next 6 months Nico and John qualified for both the GNOT final and ANC youth team.
The ANC started a massive 6 months for this pair. After winning the ANC youth teams, they were offered the chance to represent Australia in the Australia v NZ test match. The idea was for this pair to play the teams and the side events and prepare for the test match, but John and Nico had other ideas. Not only did they make the NZ final series, they easily won their round of 16 and quarterfinal match.
They were neck and neck at 3/4 time in the semi final, and if they had won that match, Australia would have had to forfeit the test which they went on to win by a substantial margin. To top off a great year, the pair qualified for the semi final of the GNOT – a great result for the 12th seeds.

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Andrew Reiner Trophy: Matt Smith and Jamie Thompson

This award is granted to the best performed pair in international competition taking account of performance in the events themselves, commitment to preparation and contribution to team success

The choice of the two non-playing captains at the PABF Championships Korea, Matt and Jamie performed consistently throughout the round robin event. They were also successful in winning the Open Swiss Pairs event.

Helman-Klinger Achievement Award: Renee Cooper

This award, worth $400 annually and supplemented with a further $200 from the Friends of Youth Bridge Fund, is presented each year to the Australian Youth Bridge Player whose ability, achievements, sportsmanship, attitude, contribution and commitment during the calendar year are most deserving. 

Renee has had a few very strong performances in Open competition, including a silver medal at the ANC in the Open Butler Pairs. She is always nice as pie at the table and has put a lot of work into developing her partner Cesca.

Helman-Klinger Masterpoint Award: Renee Cooper

This award, worth $200 annually and supplemented with a further $100 from the Friends of Youth Bridge Fund, is awarded to the Australian Youth Player who earns the most masterpoints in the calendar year in question.

This year Renee won with 144.33 masterpoints (actually Matt Smith won with 301.77 but you can only win this award once). Renee has had some exceptional results in 2017 and is a deserving winner.

Hills-Hurley Trophy: Matt Smith and Jamie Thompson

This trophy, donated by Richard Hills and Steve Hurley, is to encourage talented young bridge players in forming long-standing partnerships and reward successful pairs which have developed a well-organised partnership to harness their full potential.

Ability and achievement

Matt and Jamie won the 2017 APBF Open Swiss Pairs together, and were 5th on the SNOT datums together. They have also had their best open results in the last year – Matt reaching the GNOT final, and Jamie winning the VCC and reaching the NZ Teams semi.

Sportsmanship and attitude

Jamie has unfalteringly good manners and ethics. He doesn’t gloat nor bags his partner’s errors. Jamie is a strong and selfless team player, and is becoming a natural leader with a mature attitude and temperament. He is dedicated to partnership bridge, and to fostering sound psychology in himself and his peers. Matt is actively ethical, and strives to be as pleasant and respectful to all as he can be. He is also self-motivating. 

Contribution and commitment

Matt and Jamie have both proven their commitment to bridge. Jamie’s dedication has been acknowledged with the Helman-Klinger award. Matt’s dedication borders on obsession! Matt moved from Perth to Sydney to pursue bridge, and owns and has read over 250 bridge books. Matt routinely fine-tunes (and re-writes) his and Jamie’s methods, and works religiously on his own game. Matt also gets involved with discussions about how to make sure there is a strong youth contingent rising up in the future. They practice online typically four to five nights per week, in stints of often four to five hours. Matt and Jamie both take initiative to seek out knowledge to improve their partnership abilities, and their individual weak spots.
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Andrew Reiner Trophy: Ella Pattison and Renee Cooper

This award is granted to the best performed pair in international competition taking account of performance in the events themselves, commitment to preparation and contribution to team success

The unanimous choice of the two non-playing captains at the World Youth Team Championships in Salsomaggiore, Renee and Ella anchored the Australian Girls Team to their outstanding silver medal performance..

They then went on to perform a similar role in Croatia at the World Youth Open Championships with a stirring quarter-final victory over the fancied Italians, but bowing out in the semi-finals to the eventual winners “Zlatan” and narrowly losing the bronze medal match to “Greswe Axon”.

Helman-Klinger Achievement Award: Jamie Thompson

This award, worth $400 annually and supplemented with a further $200 from the Friends of Youth Bridge Fund, is presented each year to the Australian Youth Bridge Player whose ability, achievements, sportsmanship, attitude, contribution and commitment during the calendar year are most deserving. 

A regular on the Australian Under-25 Team for three straight years, whilst still eligible to play Under-20s, in 2016 Jamie played every single national teams event together with the Open Team Play-Offs. Jamie has also taken over the running of the Victorian kiddies night at Waverley Bridge Club and plays regularly with up-and-coming <16s, anchored an inexperienced Victorian Youth team at ANC

Helman-Klinger Masterpoint Award: Matthew Smith

This award, worth $200 annually and supplemented with a further $100 from the Friends of Youth Bridge Fund, is awarded to the Australian Youth Player who earns the most masterpoints in the calendar year in question.

This year Matt won with 216.79 masterpoints (actually Jamie won with 221.07 but you can only win this award once). Matt’s move across the Nullabor to pursue a bridge career in Sydney is certainly paying off well in terms of masterpoints!

Hills-Hurley Trophy: John and Charles McMahon

This trophy, donated by Richard Hills and Steve Hurley, is to encourage talented young bridge players in forming long-standing partnerships and reward successful pairs which have developed a well-organised partnership to harness their full potential. 

Following their first-time appearance at Youth Week in 2016, the McMahon brothers made an immediate impression with their thoughtful and skilled play and were given the opportunity to represent Australia at the New Zealand National Congress where they won the Intermediate Teams and defeated the New Zealand Youth Team 184 – 83 to take out the Stern-Cornell Trans-Tasman Trophy.
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Andrew Reiner Trophy: Shane Harrison and Max Henbest

This award is granted to the best performed pair in international competition taking account of performance in the events themselves, commitment to preparation and contribution to team success. Shane and Max anchored the Australian Under-25 team at the Asia Pacific Bridge Federation Youth Championships in Bangkok, where Australia rallied after a slow start in the event to claim bronze.

They then went on to perform a similar role in Croatia at the World Youth Open Championships with a stirring quarter-final victory over the fancied Italians, but bowing out in the semi-finals to the eventual winners “Zlatan” and narrowly losing the bronze medal match to “Greswe Axon”.

Helman-Klinger Achievement Award: Max Henbest

This award, worth $400 annually and supplemented with a further $200 from the Friends of Youth Bridge Fund, is presented each year to the Australian Youth Bridge Player whose ability, achievements, sportsmanship, attitude, contribution and commitment during the calendar year are most deserving. 

Max has been attending Youth Week for the past 8 years and has enjoyed consistent success representing Australia on multiple occasions. He has a positive impact on all his team mates in all events that he has played, especially on younger players for whom he is a great role model both at and away from the table. As noted above, 2015 saw Max representing Australia at the APBF in Bangkok and the World Youth Open Championships in Croatia. Domestically, Max won his first national open event in Adelaide at the Autumn National Open Teams and came second in the Dick Cummings Open Pairs at the Spring Nationals. 

Both Helman-Klinger Awards exist due to the generosity of the late Rabbi Leonard Helman, an American lawyer, prominent bridge enthusiast and philanthropist, who made a substantial donation to establish the prizes to honour Ron and Suzie Klinger’s outstanding contribution to bridge in Australia

Helman-Klinger Masterpoint Award: Jamie Thompson

This award, worth $200 annually and supplemented with a further $100 from the Friends of Youth Bridge Fund, is awarded to the Australian Youth Player who earns the most masterpoints in the calendar year in question.

This year Jamie won with 203.15 just pipping Max Henbest with 196.20 (which would’ve won the award in most years).

Jamie’s results in 2015 included winning the Youth Teams and Youth Butler, fourth in the Spring National Open Teams, eighth in the New Zealand Open Teams, winning the New Zealand Back-ToThe-Future Teams and winning the Victorian Open Teams and in doing so becoming the youngest ever player to achieve that feat at 19.

Hills-Hurley Trophy: Daniel Braun and Nabil Edgtton

This trophy, donated by Richard Hills and Steve Hurley, is intended to encourage talented young bridge players to form long-standing partnerships and reward a successful pair who has developed a well organised partnership to harness their full potential. 

Great friends at and away from the table, Daniel and Nabil narrowly missed selection to the Australian Under-25 team at last year’s Youth Week but have persevered and went on to perform very strongly in the Spring National Open Teams where they snuck into the fourth and final qualifying position by 0.01 of a VP and came a close second in the modified datum rankings from the qualifying phase.
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Andrew Reiner Trophy: Ellena Moskovsky and Lauren Travis

This recently established award is granted to the best performed Australian youth pair in international competition, taking account of performance in the events themselves, commitment to preparation, and contribution to team success. Ellena and Lauren anchored the Australian Under-25 Girls team at the World Championships in Istanbul, qualifying for the Quarter-Finals which Australia lost narrowly to the eventual winners, France.

Helman-Klinger Achievement Award: Adam Edgtton

This award, worth $400 annually and supplemented with a further $200 from the Friends of Youth Bridge Fund, is presented each year to the Australian Youth Bridge Player whose ability, achievements, sportsmanship, attitude, contribution and commitment during the calendar year are most deserving.

Adam has been attending Youth Week for the past 13 years and has enjoyed consistent success representing Australia on multiple occasions. He has a positive impact on all his team mates in all events that he has played, especially on younger players for whom he is a great role model both at and away from the table. 2014 saw Adam representing Australia at the World Youth Championships in Istanbul and the Commonwealth Nations Open Championships in Glasgow.

Both Helman-Klinger Awards exist due to the generosity of the late Rabbi Leonard Helman, an American lawyer, prominent bridge enthusiast and philanthropist, who made a substantial donation to establish the prizes to honour Ron and
Suzie Klinger’;s outstanding contribution to bridge in Australia.

Helman-Klinger Masterpoint Award: Adam Edgtton

This award, worth $200 annually and supplemented with a further $100 from the Friends of Youth Bridge Fund, is awarded to the Australian Youth Player who earns the most masterpoints in the calendar year in question.

This year Adam won with 173.29 masterpoints, which included winning the National Open Teams and in doing so becoming the first youth player to achieve that feat.

Hills-Hurley Trophy: Jamie Thompson and Stephen Williams

This trophy, donated by Richard Hills and Steve Hurley, is intended to encourage talented young bridge players to form long-standing partnerships and reward a successful pair who has developed a well-organised partnership to harness their full potential.

Jamie and Stephen started playing together in 2013 and were selected for the Australian Under-25 team at last year’s Youth Week, to contest both the Asia Cup and the World Championships. At the Asia Cup in Jin Hua, China, they won the Youth Pairs. Domestically, they enjoyed strong performances in both the ANOT and the VCC. As a ‘long distance’ partnership, Jamie and Stephen practice extensively on BBO, particularly in the lead-up to major events, and are looking forward to continued success in 2015.
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Andrew Reiner Trophy: Justin Howard and Peter Hollands

This recently established award is granted to the best performed pair in the primary target international event, taking account of performance in the event itself, commitment to preparation and contribution to team success.

 Juzz and Pete anchored the Australian Under-25 team to its two silver medals in the World Youth Open Championships in Atlanta and the thrilling come-from-behind victory in the APBF Youth Championships in Wuhan, China.

Helman-Klinger Achievement Award: John Yoon

This award, worth $400 annually and supplemented with a further $200 from the Friends of Youth Bridge Fund, is presented each year to the Australian Youth Bridge Player whose ability, achievements, sportsmanship, attitude, contribution and commitment during the calendar year are most deserving.

 John has been active for several years in running the ANU Bridge Club and also organises the excellent annual Bateman’s Bay Youth Weekend. A complete gentleman at and away from the table, John epitomises the six qualities required for this award.

Both Helman-Klinger Awards exist due to the generosity of the late Rabbi Leonard Helman, an American lawyer, prominent bridge enthusiast and philanthropist, who made a substantial donation to establish the prizes to honour Ron and Suzie Klinger’s outstanding contribution to bridge in Australia.

Helman-Klinger Masterpoint Award: Ellena Moskovsky

This award, worth $200 annually and supplemented with a further $100 from the Friends of Youth Bridge Fund, is awarded to the Australian Youth Player who earns the most masterpoints in the calendar year in question.

This year Ellena won with 144.73 masterpoints which included winning the ANC Youth Teams and several strong finishes in congresses and state events in Victoria (most notably making the final of the Victorian Pennant). Ellena was also the McCutcheon winner for 2013 in the Bronze Life Master category

Hills-Hurley Trophy: Rhys Cooper and Michael Bausor

This trophy, donated by Richard Hills and Steve Hurley, is intended to encourage talented young bridge players to form long-standing partnerships and reward a successful pair who has developed a well-organised partnership to harness their full potential.

Michael & Rhys have anchored the West Australian youth team for several years culminating with ANC round-robin victories in 2012 and 2013 and winning the ANC in 2012. Consistently at or near the top of the datums and playing virtually every match, Michael & Rhys play a forcing pass system necessitating a significant amount of system development, discussion and practice.
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Andrew Reiner Trophy: Nabil Edgtton and Andy Hung

This recently established award is granted to the best performed pair in the primary target international event, taking account of performance in the event itself, commitment to preparation and contribution to team success.

Despite not coming home with a medal, Australia’s U25 team did what no other Australian U25 team has done since 1991 in making it through to the Semi Finals. All three pairs played really well, but in singling out a pair for this award it’s important to note that Nabil and Andy were an amazing +0.94 IMPs per board on datums, having played all of the Quarter Finalists and generally meeting the strongest pairs from our opposing countries.

Helman-Klinger Achievement Award: Andy Hung

This award, worth $400 annually and supplemented with a further $200 from the Friends of Youth Bridge Fund, is presented each year to the Australian Youth Bridge Player whose ability, achievements, sportsmanship, attitude, contribution and commitment during the calendar year are most deserving. In addition to several strong performances at the table in 2012 (including winning the Gold Coast Congress and coming 4th in the World Junior Championships), Andy has been the driving force behind the exceptionally high quality Australian Youth Bridge Bulletin (including the previous attempts of creating the Australian Youth Bridge website).

He has also spent countless hours mentoring pairs from the Australian U20 team for the past couple of years, and is also now a supporter and part of the admin for the QLD Youth Bridge Day which has been a recent success.

Helman-Klinger Masterpoint Award: Liam Milne

This award, worth $200 annually and supplemented with a further $100 from the Friends of Youth Bridge Fund, is awarded to the Australian Youth Player who earns the most masterpoints in the calendar year in question.

Liam earned 313.05 MPs in 2012 after winning the Youth Pairs and the Youth Teams in last year’s Youth Week. He won the Gold Coast Teams, came second in the VCC, the ANZ Youth Teams and the ANC Butler Stage 1. Liam won the NZ Open Pairs and came second in the NZ Open Teams. He made the Semi-Final of the GNOT and the Open Teams Playoffs. His crowning glory was his total of 0.69 green points won at Ish’s club in June, from the Kings and Queens Invitational.

Hills-Hurley Trophy: Ellena Moskovsky and Lauren Travis

This trophy, donated by Richard Hills and Steve Hurley, is intended to encourage talented young bridge players to form long-standing partnerships and reward a successful pair who has developed a well-organised partnership to harness their full potential.

Lauren and Ellena represented Australia in the World Championships in Taicang, anchoring the U20 team to the Quarter Finals playing every single qualifying match, and every stage of the Quarter Finals (losing to the eventual runners-up, USA). Lauren and Ellena were exceptionally well prepared and had put in a very large amount of work to their system and partnership. They attended both training weekends with Alex Smirnov in Sydney and practiced extensively on BBO. Their excellent results at the World Championships were closely linked to their excellent preparation. They also finished 3rd in the World Junior Transnational Teams on the ‘Down Under’ team.

Special mention is also made in this category for Michael Whibley and Liam Milne
who had a successful year including 1st in the National Youth Teams, 2nd in the
National Open Teams, 1st in the ANC Interstate Youth Teams and 1st in the APBF
Open Pairs.
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Andrew Reiner Trophy: Daniel Braun & Shane Harrison

This newly established award is granted to the best performed pair in the
primary target international event taking account of performance in the event
itself, commitment to preparation and contribution to team success.

Daniel Braun and Shane Harrison anchored the Australian Under-21 team to its
victory in the Asia Pacific Bridge Federation Championships in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia in June 2011.

Playing 22 of 25 matches their contribution was clear based on a commendable
+0.36 imps per board against datums.

Away from the table they strongly supported their teammates with unwavering
positive energy in the face of adversity in the first round-robin and were well
prepared having practiced extensively on BBO under the mentorship of Nabil
Edgtton in the months leading up to the event.

A special mention is made for Michael Whibley and Liam Milne who similarly
anchored the Under-26 team to finish just one VP outside of the medals and went
on to win the Open Pairs at the same event.

Andrew Reiner was a pioneer in establishing Australia’s
international youth representative programme in 1989. In addition to captaining
the bronze medal winning Under-26 team in 1991 (which to this day remains
Australia’s best ever performance in a World Youth Team Championship) Andrew
has made significant financial contributions to the youth programme over many
years.

Helman-Klinger Achievement Award: Laura Ginnan

This annual award is presented to the Australian youth player whose ability,
achievements, sportsmanship, attitude, contribution and commitment during the
calendar year are most deserving.

The 2011 award was won by Laura Ginnan, who has been active in teaching in
schools, establishing and operating a primary school GATEWAY programme,
establishing and maintaining the VicYouth Facebook page, setting-up a weekly
under 16s youth session in Melbourne, assisting with the regular Melbourne
youth session, running a university bridge crash course and convening the ABF
Youth Triathlon.

At the table Laura’s 2011 results included: 2nd in the National Youth Teams, 2nd
in the ANC Interstate Youth Teams, 6th in Victor Champion Cup, 3rd in the
Victorian Open Pennant and 1st in the GNOT Swiss Pairs.

Special mentions are made for Andy Hung (refer below) and Stephen Williams who
has been running a successful weekly programme at Sydney Girls High School for
much of 2011.

Helman-Klinger Masterpoint Award: Andy Hung

This award, which players may only win won once, is granted
to the Australian youth player who earns the most masterpoints in the calendar
year in question. This year Andy Hung won with 248.61 masterpoints which
included 2nd in the National Open Teams and a string of victories and strong
finishes in congresses and state events in Queensland (most notably winning the
four major pairs championships).

Other notable McCutcheon performances in 2011 included Liam
Milne (159.50) and Max Henbest (154.66) who were 1st and 2nd respectively in
the National Master category and Jamie Thompson (149.02) who was 1st in the
Local Master category and 2nd in the overall “Improvers” competition.

Both Helman-Klinger Awards exist due to the generosity of Rabbi Leonard Helman,
an American lawyer, prominent bridge enthusiast and philanthropist, who made a
substantial donation to establish the prizes to honour Ron and Suzie Klinger’s
outstanding contribution to bridge in Australia.

Hills-Hurley Trophy: Sebastian Yuen & James Higgins

This trophy, donated by Richard Hills and Steve Hurley, is intended to encourage
talented young bridge players in forming long-standing partnerships and reward
successful pairs which have developed a well-organised partnership to harness
their full potential. In 2011 Sebastian Yuen and James Higgins have continued
their partnership of several years contesting various national youth and open
events together with a number of strong performances on their local Canberra
scene.

Highlights in 2011 included: 1st in the World University Online Championships,
2nd in the National Youth Teams, top youth team in the South-West Pacific
Teams, 6th in the Victor Champion Cup, 2nd in the ANC Interstate Youth Teams
and qualifying to represent Canberra in the GNOT. Whilst not the most
successful youth partnership in 2011, they clearly fulfil the intent of the
award based on the enduring nature of this partnership and the significant
amount of ongoing work on system development and practice.

Special mention is also made in this category for Michael Whibley and Liam Milne
who had a successful year including 1st in the National Youth Teams, 2nd in the
National Open Teams, 1st in the ANC Interstate Youth Teams and 1st in the APBF
Open Pairs.

Friends of Youth Bridge Fund Special Recognition Award for Services by a Youth
Player to Youth Bridge: Andy Hung

For the second year running, Andy Hung has been a close second in the voting for
the Helman-Klinger Achievement Award and in light of Andy’s outstanding
contribution to youth bridge over many year a decision was taken to grant a
Special Recognition Award.

Andy is extremely generous with his time in mentoring and supporting up and
coming youth players through BBO practice and speaking with young pairs at
tournaments. In 2009 Andy spent many hours with Sam Schultz and Shane Harrison
taking them from a relatively unknown pair to our top Under 21 pair in 2010.

More recently, Andy was the assigned mentor for Stephen Williams and Lauren
Travis with whom he spent countless hours on BBO preparing that pair for their
successful APBF campaign.

Andy has been a regular fixture on Australian representative teams since 2006
when Australia had its best performance in a World Championship at any level in
15 years making the semi-finals in the Under-21s at the World Youth Team
Championships in Bangkok. Andy’s Under-26 international successes include
quarter-finals in the 2008 and 2010 World Youth Team Championships and
victories in the 2007 and 2010 Asia Pacific Bridge Federation Championships.

Andy has forged close ties with youth players in Europe which has been
invaluable in bringing new ideas and techniques to Australia’s youth programme.
Andy’s connection to the European youth scene has attracted Alex Smirnov to the
last two Australian Youth Weeks and Summer Festivals and helped secure Alex’s
services as Australian youth coach for 2012. Andy also set up a youth bridge
website on which he posted regularly and which contributed to a more friendly,
fun and unified youth scene in Australia.

David Stern

On Behalf of Australian Bridge Federation Youth Committee
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Helman-Klinger Achievement Award: Peter Hollands

This award is presented each year to the Australian youth player whose ability, achievements, sportsmanship, attitude, contribution and commitment during the calendar year are most deserving. The 2010 award was won by Peter Hollands, who has been instrumental in organising various aspects of youth bridge in Melbourne, as well as having had an impressive list of achievements in various national and local bridge events. This includes being part of the runner-up “Melbourne 4” team at the GNOT and winning the Victorian Open Pairs and the Victorian Open Teams.

Helman-Klinger Masterpoint Award: Michael Whibley

This award is granted to the Australian youth player who earns the most masterpoints in the calendar year in question. This year Michael Whibley won with 257.19 masterpoints, narrowly ahead of Adam Edgtton (255.67). This award can only be won once by a player and thus Nabil Edgtton (357.03) and Paul Gosney (356.33) were ineligible due to previous wins.

Both Helman-Klinger Awards exist due to the generosity of Rabbi Helman, an American lawyer, prominent bridge enthusiast and philanthropist, who made a substantial donation to establish the prizes to honour Ron and Suzie Klinger’s outstanding contribution to bridge in Australia. The Helman-Klinger awards this year have been increased by 50% through a contribution from the Friends of Youth Bridge Fund administered by the ABF Youth Committee.

Hills-Hurley Trophy: Nabil Edgtton and Paul Gosney

This trophy, donated by Richard Hills and Steve Hurley, is intended to encourage talented young bridge players to form long-standing partnerships and reward a successful pair which has developed a well-organised partnership to harness their full potential. In 2010 the stand-out choice was Nabil Edgtton and Paul Gosney, two of our most successful youth bridge players in recent times, who worked hard on their partnership throughout the year. Their results speak for themselves, including a win in the ANOT, a win in the ANC Youth Teams, 4th place in the ANC Open Butler, being the leading Australian pair on datums in the Rosenblum and spearheading the Australian Junior Team that qualified for the quarter-finals at the World Junior Championships.

David Stern
Chairman
Australian Bridge Federation Youth Committee

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Helman-Klinger Achievement Award: Rebecca Thornberry and Justin Howard

The committee were pleased to have two such worthy candidates during 2009 and after much debate amongst the awards committee it was agreed that two full awards would be made in 2009. Both winners have excellent performance records in 2009

In 2009 Bec participated with a number of partners in a variety of tournaments in Australia and overseas.

Bec qualified for the 2009 NOT in only her second outing in the event and finished second in the ACT State Teams. Bec has been active in the support of youth bridge in the ACT and is constantly seeking to expand the participation of youth in the game of bridge. To this end she has established and runs a successful weekly Friday afternoon youth game for high-school and university students at the Canberra Bridge Club and serves BFACT in a dual capacity of Secretary and Youth Councillor. Her table manner and sportsmanship are exemplary.

Helman-Klinger Masterpoint Award: Pete Hollands

The ABF Youth Committee is pleased to announce that the award levels have been increased from 2010 onwards to $500 and $250 per annum.

Hills-Hurley Trophy: Pete Hollands and Justin Howard

Pete Hollands and Justin Howard were head-and-shoulders the best-performing Australian Youth pair in 2009, in fact their success in both youth events and open company was nothing short of remarkable, in fact their performances established their credentials as an open and youth pair to be respected.

As a result of their fine performance in the Youth Butler Trials they were members of the Australian International Youth Team which went on to win the Under 26 PABF teams in Macau.

As part of a invited youth team to participate in the 2009 Yeh Cup they proved their credentials finishing positive on datums as well as making the semi-finals of the pairs competing with some of the finest players in world of bridge. They then went on to become part of the 2009 Championship Victorian Australian National Championship Youth Team also completing the quinella by winning the Youth Pairs at the same event. In addition they were members of the successful Victorian Pennant Winners and GNOT Semi-finalists.

Their stated philosophy is that they must stay friends and be able to laugh about their mistakes as well as talk about them. They always try to have fun at the table, keep things simple focusing their energies on card play. As friends they spend a lot of time discussing bridge and random ideas on the game.

More recently they have turned their hand to ensuring the endurance of the game by encouraging more young people to learn bridge, participating in the teaching programs and organising a pro-am tournament to give many of these newer players vital experience.

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Helman-Klinger Achievement Award: Nye Griffiths

Nye’s performance record in 2008 speaks for itself.

He won the 2008 Australian Youth Teams Championship as well as qualifying as a member of the 2008 International Youth team competing in Beijing where the team finished third in the qualifying phase of the Under 26 year old teams.

His excellent commitment to practice and preparation made his partnership with Paul Gosney an exceptionally solid partnership with excellent results throughout.

He made the quarter-finals of the National Open Teams after running third in his qualifying section. Playing with Peter Gill he followed by being a member of the winning NSW teams at the Australian National Championships and, with Paul Gosney ran fourth in Open Butler. He then went on to win the youth Triathlon and Grand National Open Teams Consolation Pairs.

Nye has a long-standing commitment to bridge, and displays enviable sportsmanship. His continued friendship has been greatly valued by Michael Delivera during his long recuperation period, his mentoring of the up-and-coming pairs of Harrison-Shulz, and Edgtton-Morris has been invaluable and he has a commitment to bridge and youth bridge as demonstrated by his subsequent membership of the ABF Youth Committee and the New South Wales Bridge Association.

Helman-Klinger Masterpoint Award: Justin Howard

Hills-Hurley Trophy: Ming Chan and Leigh Matheson

Leigh Matheson and Hoi-Ming Chan made their mark in the 2008 Australian Youth Championship, qualifying for the Pairs Final and qualifying fifth for the Playoff for the Australian Youth team that year.

They continued to work hard on their partnership playing a complex system which of itself required a substantial commitment to the partnership.

They were a key part of the 2008 NSW Youth Team which made the Australian National Youth Teams Championships final.

Their 2008 effort was well rewarded with success in the 2009 Australian Youth Championship, running second in the Youth Butler, winning the subsequent playoff to join the Australian International Youth Team which went on to win the 2009 Under 26 PABF teams in Macau.

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2007 Helman Klinger Award

The annual Helman Klinger Award of $400 was donated by Rabbi Helman of USA for the under 26 year old whose ability, achievements, sportsmanship, attitude, contribution and commitment during the calendar year are most deserving, as determined by a panel.

The 2007 winner is Paul Gosney. In 2007, Paul’s

(1) achievements were as good as any youth player in recent years, playing very successfully in the Australian Open Team, winning the Swan River Swiss Pairs National Championship in Perth, winning the Interstate Youth Teams, coming 2nd in the GNOT Finals and making the Australian Youth Team, from which he had to withdraw in order to play in the Open Team simultaneously.

Paul made the Finals of the NOT, was 2nd in the National Youth Teams and 2nd in the National Mixed Teams. He came 6th in the McCutcheon Trophy for most masterpoints in Australia in 2007.

Aged only 22, Paul came 2nd in the datums of all pairs from 12 countries at the 2007 PABF Open Teams, helping to lift Australia from 8th in 2006 to 2nd in 2007 in that event. Afterwards, favourable comments were made about Paul’s bridge by a top Japanese expert and by legendary Asian superstar Patrick Huang.

(2) ability is shown by his many achievements.

(3) attitude and sportsmanship is serious, well-behaved, calm and courteous, typical of youngsters of Queensland origin.

(4) contributed by visiting Michael Delivera in hospital for rehabilitating bridge games following Michael’s stroke, meeting and hosting the Queensland visitors at the Youth Triathlon and filling in as the partner of less inexperienced players at the same event.

(5) is fully committed to the game of bridge.

Helman-Klinger Masterpoint Award

The Masterpoint section of Helman Klinger Award ($200) for most masterpoints by an Under 26 year old in 2007, was won by 15 year old Nabil Edgtton, narrowly ahead of 18 year old Justin Howard.

Several past winners were ineligible. Nabil is the youngest ever winner of the Award. He is also Australia’s youngest ever Life Master, and our youngest ever international representative.

2007 Hills Hurley Trophy

This annual trophy, donated by Richard Hills and Steve Hurley, is intended to encourage talented young bridge players to form long-standing, well-organised partnerships and thus harness their full potential.

In past years, it has been awarded to partnerships who have reached the top by developing a strong partnership, such as the Edgtton brothers in 2006.

The 2007 winners are rising stars Shane Harrison and Sam Schulz from Adelaide.

David Lusk remarks that they show partnership maturity well beyond their 16 years, and that they are also impeccably well-behaved and composed at the table. Sam and Shane are a good example that partnership takes precedence over profile and reputation. They use the Partnership Bidding feature of BBO, practising bidding hands.

And their results? Their debut at big-time bridge outside of Adelaide was at the Fremantle ANC, where they impressed with good datums and by pulling off several surprise wins over more experienced opponents, playing in the Colts Team. Having done well to qualify for the GNOT Finals at year’s end, their good progress continued at Banora Point against top Open players, coming 19th in the Swiss Teams then placing 16th out of 100 pairs in the GNOT Pairs.

Sam and Shane, having played locally in Adelaide for two years before 2007, have in the last 12 months shown that a proper bridge partnership has a big advantage over talented individuals who do not harness their ability fully in tandem with another talented player.

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2006 HELMAN KLINGER AWARDS

There are two individual awards which together comprise the Helman-Klinger Award. Rabbi Leonard Helman donated the funds for this award to honour the contribution of Ron Klinger to Youth Bridge. The main award of $400 is for the under 26 year old whose ability, achievements, sportsmanship, attitude, contribution and commitment during the calendar year are most deserving, as determined by a panel. The second award for most master-points in the year is worth $200.

Any player can win each part of the Helman-Klinger Award only once, and any pair can win the Hills-Hurley Trophy only once.

The 2006 Helman Klinger Award ($400) was won by Michael De Livera from Canberra.

Michael was first nominated for these awards in 2000, when he was the star performer in Dorothy Jesner’s School Bridge program in Canberra and made his debut in the ACT Youth Team at a very young age.

In 2006 Michael made his debut for Australia, coming 4th in the World Schools (U21) Teams Championship in Bangkok in August. This was the first time since 1991 that Australia has made the semi-finals of any World Championships at bridge. Michael and his partner Justin Howard were in the top ten pairs in the world for their age group, gaining an excellent average of 0.69 Imps per board played.

However, the main reason that Michael is a leading contender is that the Helman Klinger Award emphasizes equally all six components: ability, achievements, sportsmanship, attitude, contribution and commitment. Like his father Arjuna, Michael is the epitome of sportsmanship at the bridge table. He is sought after as a bridge partner, because his attitude and commitment are outstanding. Michael became a Life Master in 2006, and won the big prizemoney at the Albury Congress.

His achievements are all the more meritorious because Michael has had to battle ill health in 2006. After the World Championships, unfortunately Michael had a Brain Stem Stroke, which has not affected his brain at all (his cognitive powers such as thinking and computing are not affected at all) but has severely impacted on his Motor Neurone System. As a result, he will have a very long rehabilitation period, relearning anything to do with movement, such as arm movements, swallowing, speaking and walking. We all hope that Michael’s recuperation proceeds well and that he will be back playing in Youth Bridge Championships again, hopefully as early as 2008.

The Helman Klinger Award for the Most Master-Points in 2006 – cash prize of $200 – was won by Nye Griffiths with 203.35 master-points.

Ineligible = G Ware and P Gosney (previous winners), V Demuy (not Aussie all year)

2006 Leaders in each State

SA
Justin Williams 188.39
Freya Wilson 128.36

Qld
Pranjal Chakradeo 71.73
Ryan Touton 61.90

NSW
Nye Griffiths 203.35 (ex-ACT)
Nabil Edgtton 137.78

Vic
Justin Howard 138.29
Andy Hung 108.59 (ex-Qld)

ACT
Matt Porter 76.69
Sebastian Yuen 48.86

WA
Jane Reynolds 40.98
James Reynolds 10.90

America has an Under 21 section for this Award (we don’t). The top U21 player was Justin Howard on 138.29, from Nabil Edgtton on 137.78.

2006 HILLS HURLEY TROPHY (for the Partnership of the Year)

This Trophy was won by Adam and Nabil Edgtton.

2006 was the year in which this pair of teenagers came of age at bridge. They made the semi-finals of the World Schools (U21) Teams Championship in Bangkok, topping the datums (+ 0.75 IMPs a board, 8th overall) for the Aussie team which came =2nd in the Qualifying and 4th overall. This was a particularly impressive result because the other three semi-finalists were all European, and thus had vastly more experience of international bridge within this age group than the rest of the world. Click here (pdf file) to read about two hands they played in Bangkok.

Nabil at age 14 became the youngest Life Master in the history of Australian bridge.
Adam at age 15 was nominated for the Best Played Hand of the Year by a Junior in the world.
Adam became the 2nd youngest Life Master in Australia’s history.
Adam and Nabil came 5th in the VCC, and 4th in the ANOT, two spectacular achievements at Open Bridge.

They were signed up to the Oz-One project which aims to coach them up to become superstars of bridge. Oddly enough, given their ages, their bridge partnership of six years is the longest partnership in Oz-One! Oz-One’s Oz-kids program has helped develop their bidding and understandings.

As a pair, they had a good year on the Congress circuit, especially at Newcastle, Central Coast, Bondi and Lindfield.

Several bridge hands played by the Edgttons in 2006 can be found in the January 2007 edition of the Australian National Youth Bridge Bulletin.

These Awards are presented annually at the summer Festival in Canberra.

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Rabbi Leonard Helman donated the funds for this award to honour the contribution of Ron Klinger to Youth Bridge. The main award of $400 is for the under 26 year old (born on or after 1/1/76 for the year 2001) whose ability, achievements, sportsmanship, attitude, contribution and commitment during the calendar year stand out, as determined by a panel. The inaugural winner for 1999 was Mark Abraham from Tasmania, followed by Kylie Robb of NSW.

The Helman-Klinger Award comprises two parts. For the first time ever, both awards have been won by the same person – Paul Brayshaw.

In the “most masterpoints” section of the Award, Paul won from Kylie Robb and Jillian Hay. The previous winners were ineligible. Paul receives $200 for this award.

The main Helman-Klinger Award of $400 also goes to Paul Brayshaw for his massive contribution to youth bridge in 2001.

Paul set up and organised weekly Youth Bridge Games in Perth. He edited, produced and to a large degree wrote several issues of the youth bridge magazine YOBO, which is regarded by some people as the best youth bridge magazine in the world. It is certainly one of the most daring. The highly accurate card play analysis by Paul is appreciated by the readers almost as much as the large slabs of youthful humour.

Paul is a product of the school bridge system. He led his high school to victory in the early 1990s in Western Australia’s ground-breaking interschool bridge competition. His Kelm Scott Senior High Team then came 2nd in the 1992 National Interschool Team Championships.

On the playing side, in 2001 Paul as always set the highest standards of demeanour and ethics at the table, while maintaining the friendly style of a player who truly appreciates the beauty of the game of bridge. His results were equally impressive. Australia’s first victory in the PABF Youth Championships since 1992 was the highlight. On home soil, coming from behind to defeat the Victorians in the two biggest youth events of the year (in Canberra in January and in July) showed that his approach to bridge is conducive to playing one’s best when under pressure.

The Hills-Hurley Trophy for the Best Partnership of the year goes to cousins Paul Brayshaw and Simon Brayshaw. This Western Australian pair’s results have totally dominated Australian youth bridge in 2001:

1st place in the Playoff for the Australian Youth Team in January,
1st place in PABF Youth Teams Championship in Singapore in June,
1st place in the Interstate Youth Teams Championship in July, and
Midfield in the World Youth Teams Championship in Brazil in August, a reasonable showing against the best in the world.
In an interview in YOBO magazine in 2001, Simon revealed that working hard to develop detailed understandings within their Kaplan-Sheinwold bidding system has given Paul and Simon (and their WA teammates) a huge bidding edge over the rest of the youth field in Australia.
One purpose of the Hills-Hurley Trophy is to convince youths that such partnership work contributes heavily to bridge success. By developing a sound partnership and putting the work in to make their bidding system a highly effective tool, Richard Hills and Steve Hurley in the 1980s won five national youth titles. The Brayshaws have followed a similar approach and are worthy winners of the Hills-Hurley Trophy for 2001.

Peter Gill for the ABF Youth Committee, 10 January 2002.

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The winner for the Helman Klinger Award for 2000 is KYLIE ROBB

She attracted the top vote from every judge.

Rabbi Leonard Helman donated the funds for this award to honour the contribution of Ron Klinger to Youth Bridge. The main award of $400 is for the under 26 year old (born on or after 1/1/75 for the year 2000) whose ability, achievements, sportsmanship, attitude, contribution and commitment during the calendar year are most deserving, as determined by a panel. The inaugural winner for 1999 was Mark Abraham from Tasmania.

In a year where young players starred in the Australian bridge scene more brightly than for many years, Kylie’s achievements were truly outstanding. Her biggest success was her Bronze Medal for equal third in the first World Junior Individual tournament, called the Generali Individual, in Greece in April. This was Australia’s first medal at any form of bridge since our National Youth Team’s Bronze Medal at the World Championships in 1991. Reports from Greece were that her attitude and ability impressed several of the world’s keenest judges.

In her regular partnership with Tony Nunn, she began the year by making the Finals of the National Open Teams despite being neglected by the Seeding Committee. The next Open National on the Australian circuit is the Gold Coast Teams, where Kylie and Tony came 2nd to a strong visiting English team. The Victor Champion Cup followed, and Kylie and Tony finished =3rd after once again contending strongly for victory against the best Open players in Australia.

Kylie was in the National Youth Team which defeated New Zealand in the Zone 7 Youth Championship in July. This was her third year repesenting Australia. She is 22 years old. She completed her trip to New Zealand by winning the NZ Swiss Pairs Championship.

Kylie was 2nd in the Interstate Youth Teams in Brisbane, and in October Kylie and Tony won the NSW State Open Pairs Championship. A third placing in the Grand National Teams completed a year of consistent success.

Add Kylie’s constant commitment to assisting the promotion of youth bridge especially as a member of the progressive ABF Youth Committee, plus her writing of articles for newsletters and encouraging newer players, and she is a worthy winner of the 2000 Helman-Klinger Award.

All these achievements happened while she had a very busy year finishing her university degree with First Class Honours. There is some similarity to Ron Klinger’s last year of university in which his growing commitment to bridge did not stop him winning the University Medal in Law.

Award for Top Masterpoints in 2000

This award will be made to Tony Nunn of New South Wales. Leading masterpoint earner, Leigh Gold was ineligible as the 1999 winner.

No individual may win the HK award in either category more than once.

HILLS-HURLEY AWARD

For the pair judged by the panel (Peter Gill, David Lusk, Steve Hurley and 1999 winners, Nic Croft and Luke Matthews) as a sucessful pair who have epitomised the principles of working on and developing a partnership. This award will be made to Tony Nunn and Kylie Robb.

David Lusk and Peter Gill for the ABF Youth Committee

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The inaugural Helman-Klinger Awards were presented at the 2000 Summer Festival of Bridge.

Rabbi Helman, an American lawyer and prominent bridge enthusiast and philanthropist, donated $6000 to establish the prize to honour Ron and Suzie Klinger’s outstanding contribution to bridge in Australia. The donation was augmented by the ABF to create two awards.

The first Award of $400 was won by Mark Abraham of Tasmania. The guidelines in selecting Mark as the winner involved ability, achievement, sportsmanship, attitude, contribution and commitment to bridge. The seven nominations for the Award were, alphabetically:

Mark Abraham, Paul Brayshaw, Christy Bridgland, Nic Croft, Leigh Gold, Hakan Lyngsjo and Kylie Robb.

The additional prize was for the youth player who had earned the most masterpoints in 1999. This award of $200 was won by Leigh Gold of Victoria with 339.09 masterpoints.

Ron Klinger has always helped Youth Bridge, most notably with his free week of lessons for youngsters, which was how many leading youth and ex-youth players learned bridge. Ron’s latest involvement was to provide a free seminar a few months ago to the bridge clubs of Trinity Grammar School and Sydney Girls’ High following an inter-school match between the two schools.

The ABF acknowledges the splendid gift from Rabbi Helman, applauds the use of it to honour Ron and Suzie Klinger, and is most appreciative of the Rabbi’s support for Australian Bridge.

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