Lethbridge Sport Council looks to celebrate community’s best

By Ry Clarke - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on January 7, 2023.

The Lethbridge Sport Council is calling for nominations for its upcoming awards, recognizing those in the community for their excellences in athletics across Lethbridge. The 13th annual Lethbridge Sport Council Achievement Awards recognizes and showcases the excellence of spirit and sport amongst athletes, coaches, officials, volunteers, and sport leaders. Nominations are now open with applications due on Jan. 31.

“The awards give us an opportunity to recognize and celebrate all the achievements and importance locally in Lethbridge,” said Tanya Whipple, communications manager for the Sport Council. “There are so many moving parts to make sports successful, and our awards recognize all of those parts.”

There are four award categories, and nominations are being accepted online at lethbridgesportcouncil.ca/events/achievement-awards.

“There is the Athletic Performance, Sport Excellence, Leadership, and Spirit in Sport,” said Whipple.

Each award contains subcategories, expanding on eligibility for recipients.

“It’s not just athletes, lots of people think sport awards are just about the athletes or the teams. But we have a very wide range of categories,” said Whipple. “The Athletic Performance awards include junior and senior male and female, master, athlete with a disability, Special Olympics, and amateur. But then beyond that there is also coaching awards, officiating awards, volunteers, we have sport event awards as well.”

Recognizing the effort being put into local sports in the community, the awards help highlight the hard work on and off the field.

“We hold these awards to celebrate and recognize the achievements,” said Whipple. “It is nice to be able to tell the community about the great things that are going on and help raise the profile of, not just sports, but specific sports and organizations that they represent in our community. Our nomination process is quite easy, it lets the person nominating tell us why they think that person is awesome and that we can share that with everyone.”

The awards will hold a banquet at the beginning of April to celebrate with winners in the community. The Sport Council looks forward to all the nominations coming in, hoping to celebrate all things local sports has to offer in Lethbridge.

“No matter what the role and sport is, there is always a place to nominate them,” said Whipple. “If anyone has any questions or needs any assistance, reach out to the Sports Council (403-320-5412).”