Six of the Island?s elite junior athletes received Denton Hurdle Memorial Awards for excellence in their respective sports and academics on Tuesday at a presentation ceremony held at St. Paul?s Church in Paget.

The event, attended this year by Education Minister Walter Lister, Bermuda Schools Sports Federation (BSSF) chairman Linda Hines and guest speaker and past award recipient Cal Blankendal, is staged annually in honour of late local rugby star and schoolteacher Denton Hurdle.

Those chosen from a long list of nominees were Saltus Junior School?s Sara Schroder, Francis Patton Primary?s Dage Minors, Clearwater Middle School?s Dominique Richardson and Tre Govia, Cedarbridge Academy?s Latroya Darrell and Saltus Senior School?s Matthew Godfrey.

?Bermuda Schools Sports Federation?s executive committee was honoured to celebrate the scholar-athletes nominated for 2006,? commented Hines.

?Again we were faced with a very difficult decision of choosing the winners from among a very talented and community-minded group of young people.?

The BSSF executive said parents of all those nominated should be very proud of their children.

?This shows that Bermuda is in very good hands for the future,? Hines added. ?And the BSSF executive committee wishes each and every student nominated the very best for the future and offers congratulations again to the winners.

?No doubt we will be hearing about all of these young people in a very positive light in the near future.?

Bermuda national rugby team captain and past award recipient Bobby Hurdle stated: ?On behalf of the family we would like to thank the Bermuda Schools Sports Federation for all their hard efforts putting this event on year-in year-out.

?I had the pleasure of being one of the judges for the event and it is always an honour to see the amount of different activities on and off the field a lot of our kids get not only involved in, but also excel at.

?And my father and the rest of the family are very proud to see just what this award ceremony has grown into.?

Guest speaker Blankendal added: ?It was very good to see so many young people involved, not only in sports but education as well, recognised among the Primary, Middle and Secondary Schools across the Island in memory of Denton Hurdle.

?If we can get these types of programmes, not only in the schools but throughout all of the clubs and organisations, then I?m pretty sure the youth will benefit on the Island as a whole.?