2009 Snow Sports Awards

Lake Wanaka, New Zealand (Friday July 3, 2009) Snow Sports New Zealand (SSNZ) will honour New Zealand’s top snow sports athletes, coaches, ski areas and instructors at the annual 2009 Snow Sports Awards in Wanaka Saturday evening.
Thirty-seven athletes have been nominated as finalists in nine awards categories, including alpine, cross country, adaptive, snowboarding, Freeskiing, coaching, volunteer of the year and emerging talent of the year.

The highlight of the evening will be the presentation of the Snow Sports Athlete of the Year. Winners in each sport’s athlete of the year category make up the finalists for the overall snow sports athlete of the year.

The awards cover the 2008 Southern Hemisphere season through the 2008-09 Northern Hemisphere season.

“It’s an opportunity to celebrate the on-snow successes of the past year, and to give recognition to the athletes, coaches, volunteers and other individuals who have performed with distinction,” said Snow Sports New Zealand CEO Ross Palmer. “All of the finalists deserve to be recognised.”

Motivational speaker Mark Inglis, the first double amputee to reach the summit of the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest, will be the official guest speaker.

Other awards to be handed out on the evening include the Snow.co.nz 2008 Ski Area of the Year; NZ Snow Sports Instructors Alliance (NZSIA) 2008 Instructor of the Year and 2008 Ski Racing Masters Champions.