The Nomination process for the 2011 Awards is now CLOSED.
Eligibility of Athletes and Teams
Eligible amateur athletes are residents of Ottawa; athletes from other communities competing for an Ottawa Club, team, University, or college; Ottawa athletes currently attending Universities/Colleges or training camps outside Ottawa. Athletic achievements must be in the 2011 calendar year. Candidates should have competitive success at provincial levels and higher. The competitive levels normally recognized are the Senior and Junior, but these are clearly sport dependant. Athletes in the competitive age groups aged 13 and younger, or in age groups commonly referred to as Masters, are normally not considered.
Individuals
One athlete per sport is normally recognized without regard for gender or age (except as noted above). To assist in the nomination process for each sport, the OSA Board would note for example that a provincial junior champion in a competitive field may be selected over a senior athlete who did not win a provincial championship. That is to say, sports should nominate the athlete who had the highest level of competitive success in the most competitive field of that year.
Athletes selected for the 2011 OSA award will be offered one free ticket and invited to attend the Awards banquet at which time they will be recognized by the Mayor of Ottawa.
Teams
Teams from Eligible Sports that won Ontario Championships or higher levels in 2011, may be nominated for recognition.
In the case of teams accepted for recognition, two free tickets are offered for teams of 4 athletes or more. For teams of 3 or fewer, one ticket will be offered.
Eligibility of Sports
Sports must be affiliated with their respective Ontario or National Sport Governing Associations and recognized by The Sport Alliance of Ontario. However, the OSA reserves the responsibility to recognize only one athlete for sports which have separate Provincial Associations for various disciplines of essentially the same sport.
Major Awards
In addition to the individual sport nominations, there are two categories of major awards for which the Ottawa Sports Awards are seeking nominations for coaches, officials, athletes, and local sport supporters.
The first is the 'Lifetime' category, where an Ottawa based coach, official or volunteer has performed that role on behalf of amateur sport for at least 20 years, and thus has made a significant impact on their sport, often becoming the 'face' of their sport in Ottawa. There are a surprising number of such individuals who have dedicated a tremendous number of years for their sport, their club, and so forth.
The second category recognizes the male and female coach of the year, the male and female athlete of the year, the male and female team of the year, and the amateur club of the year. The individual, or team or club selected for recognition, is deemed to be the best of their category for the year. Usually it is the individual who had the best performance at the highest level of competition in the year in question, in the current case it is 2011.
While it is subjective, the final decision on the selected nominee to be recognized is made by the Board of the Ottawa Sports Awards. Sometimes the choice is relatively easy to make; usually it is debated extensively until a consensus is reached. As a matter of principle, the Ottawa Sports Awards does not recognize multiple recipients for major or individual awards, unless the tie cannot be broken, as has happened for Male athlete of the year recently, where two Ottawa athletes were on the same World Championship crew in Canoe-Kayak. All the athletes of the 'Team of the Year' of course are recognized.
When an individual wishes to nominate someone for one of the major awards, we need a three to five paragraph bio on the nominee as it applies to the award in question, with contacts of the nominee and nominator. Nominations can be made on line.
