Paddle Australia’s slalom star Jessica Fox (NSW), paralympic champion Curtis McGrath (QLD) and ocean racing legend Cory Hill (QLD) have been announced as finalists for this year’s World Paddle Awards. Fox has been announced as a finalist in the Sportswoman of the year category. Hill and McGrath are both finalists in the Sportsman of the year category.
In addition, Australian waveskier Jackie Dillon was named as finalist for the Lifetime Achievement award.
The finalists were announced yesterday after the closing of the public voting over the weekend.
The finalists have been calculated based on the consolidated vote of both the Public and the Academy (first round). For an explanation of the voting procedure click here and for a detailed and practical example concerning last year’s winners click here.
In each of the award categories, one of the finalists will win The Golden Paddle – a paddlesports ‘Oscar’.
In alphabetical order, the ‘Top 3’ finalists of 2018 in each class are:
- Sportsman: Fernando Pimenta (POR), Curtis McGrath (AUS), Cory Hill (AUS)
- Sportswoman: Laurence Vincent-Lapointe (CAN), Jessica Fox (AUS), Danuta Kozak (HUN)
- Lifetime Achievement: Jackie Dillon (AUS), Csaba Szanto (HUN), Claudia van Wijk (CAN)
- Foundation Award: Rob Thompson (GBR), Joe Mornini (USA), Bradley John Fisher (RSA)
- Junior: Thorbjorn Rask (DEN), Sophia Jensen (CAN), Ottilie Robinson Shaw (GBR)
- Media Professional: Olaf Obsommer (GER), Daniel Stach (CZE), Craig Freimond (RSA)
- Team: Shell Va’a (PYF), Outer Harbour Warriors (CAN), Team Germany Canoe Polo (GER)
- Academy Award: The WPA Academy will decide whether there will be an Academy Award this year or not, which is up to their discretion.
Congratulations to all our finalists! But also of course to all of the 2018 nominees who have set a benchmark for paddlesports achievement.
See Paddle Australia’s nominees here:Â http://paddle.org.au/2018/11/21/australian-paddlers-nominated-for-prestigious-world-paddle-awards/
After the second round of voting of the WPA Academy is consolidated with the Public vote, with winners to be informed next week between 18-21 December.
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