Minister for Sport Mark Arbib and ACT Senator Kate Lundy have congratulated Laura Geitz on winning the prestigious Liz Ellis Diamond trophy at tonight’s Australian Netball Annual Awards.

Attending the awards, Senator Lundy said the Liz Ellis Diamond recognised the player who received the most votes for outstanding achievement in both the international arena and the ANZ Championship.

Geitz was also named ANZ Championship Player of the Year, adding to her 2011 trophy haul including the ANZ Championship premiership and World Netball Championship winner’s medallion.

“Laura has enjoyed an outstanding year both domestically for the Queensland Firebirds and internationally with the Australian Diamonds where Australia defeated the New Zealand Silver Ferns to be crowned World Champions,” Senator Lundy said.

“As a former Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder Laura has come through the world’s best netball programs to be a key member of the Diamonds squad.

“Congratulations to all of the award winners tonight. The quality of this year’s winners shows what a fantastic year it has been for Australian netball.”

The Liz Ellis Diamond is named after former Diamond’s captain and most capped Australian player Liz Ellis AM, who was tonight inducted into the Australian Netball Hall of Fame. Previous winners include: Mo’onia Gerrard (2008), Julie Corletto (2009) and Natalie von Bertouch (2010).

Senator Arbib paid tribute to the Spirit of Netball award winner Norman Plummer who retired from coaching the Diamonds after this year’s successful World Championships.

“Norma Plummer has been an outstanding Australian netball coach, leading the Diamonds to back-to-back world titles in Singapore last month,” Senator Arbib said.

“She is passionate about the game and developed the skills of some of our greatest netball talents during her eight years in the job. This award is fitting recognition of her dedication to netball.”

The Australian Government is a strong supporter of Australian netball, contributing more than $3 million in annual funding to support the development of the sport at both the elite and grassroots level.

This includes an additional $500,000 per year in high performance funding as part of the Australian Government’s record investment in sport announced last year.

2011 Australian Netball Award winners:

Liz Ellis Diamond: Laura Geitz
International Player of the Year: Kimberlee Green
Championship player of the year: Laura Geitz, Queensland Firebirds
Favourite Diamond: Catherine Cox
Australian Netball League Player of the Year: Karyn Bailey, Victoria Fury
Australian 21/U Player of the Year: April Letton
Australian Sports Commission Coach of the Year: Roselee Jencke, Queensland Firebirds
Umpire of the Year: Sharon Kelly
All Australian Umpire Awards: Diana Toppi, Tara Warner
Tanya Denver Media Award: Warren Partland, The Adelaide Advertiser
Service Awards: Amanda Lulham (Journalist – News Ltd), Linda Pearce (Journalist – Fairfax Media)
Hall of Fame Inductees: Liz Ellis, Julie Francou
Spirit of Netball Award: Norma Plummer