Nomination time as 2nd edition of World Paddle Awards launches for 2015 season
Writer | Nicolaas Harding
Celebrating the greatest achievement by men and women in paddlesports, it is time once again to nominate your heroes to win a Golden Paddle as the second instalment of the World Paddle Awards (WPA) for the 2015 season will be held in March 2016.
As the 2015 season is about to draw to a close, it is time again to come together and celebrate the year's exceptional achievement in paddlesports!
We are now taking nominees who could win the much acclaimed 'Golden Paddle'; athletes who have excelled in their sport(s) this year and individuals/professionals off-the-water who have made a significant contribution to paddlesports. The deadline for nominations is 10 October 2015.
The location of the second World Paddle Awards ceremony will be Augsburg, Germany and is set for Saturday 12 March 2016 – save the date!
✰ SUBMIT YOUR 2015 NOMINATIONS ✰
[Note: One submission per form; you can submit as many different nominees as you choose.]
2014 Inaugural World Paddle Awards
The winners in the 2014 cycle were: Hank McGregor (RSA; Sportsman), Freya Hoffmeister (GER; Sportswoman), Eric Jackson (USA; Lifetime Achievement), GBR Paracanoeing (GBR; Team), Emma Aastrand Jorgensen (DEN; Sports Junior), Steve West (GBR/AUS; Media Ambassador), Expand and Extend (NEP; Paddlesports Professional), and special recognition to Jessica Fox (AUS; Academy Award).
The WPA is a global award ceremony celebrating remarkable prowess, success, results and accomplishments by men and women, boys and girls, not just in the Olympic sports of canoe slalom and canoe sprint, but across all the different paddlesport disciplines and for achievement within the watersports industry itself.
Changes
We have made a few exciting changes to the awards since last year: first, the 'Paddlesports Professional' award has been split in two new categories named 'Industry Professional' (commercial) and 'Foundation Award' (community); second, the award for male and female 'Teams' are now encompassed under Sportsman and Sportswoman respectively; and 'Media Ambassador' is today known as 'Media Professional'.
There are still 7 award-categories in total which both the public and the WPA Academy can vote for at the same time; 50-50 weighted vote - see full explanation of the voting procedure.
Voting: what happens next?
The WPA Academy will select the 6-9 most-nominated-for candidates in each category; these will then be announced on the WPA (this) website, Facebook and Twitter shortly after October 10th.
You can then 'like', 'tweet', 'Google+' your selections to win at the bottom of each nominee profile. There will also be a like button available if you do not use social media.
Later in the year, after collation of the public and Academy vote, the 'Top 3' finalists will be revealed on the WPA website. Voting continues until Sunday 22 November 2015, with overall results then tallied and the winner declared publicly at the ceremony itself in 2016.