Discussion: Orienteering Awards 2014 - Nominations Being Accepted

Orienteering USA Annual Competitive Awards Program.

The Program’s goals are to recognize and reward outstanding competitive accomplishments by US orienteers at the end of every year. The Program’s Committee solicits nominations from Orienteering USA membership for several different awards, listed below and selects a deserving winner of each award by the end of the year. The winners will be announced and receive prizes. In certain cases, honorable mention will be made for deserving athletes. A list of past winners is included at the end of this announcement.

The nominations are now open and will close on Nov. 20th which is one week after the Relay and Night-O Championships which are on November 14 -16. See below for the description of the awards, who is eligible and where to send nominations. Honorable mentions are also noted where appropriate.

The awards are:

(a) Orienteer of the Year is awarded to the best USA orienteer in 2014, based on results at national and international events.

(b) Junior Orienteer of the Year is awarded to the best USA orienteer no older than 20 in 2014, based on results at national and international events.

(c) Comet of the Year is awarded to the most improved USA orienteer in 2014, based on results at national and international events.

(d) Orienteering Team of the Year is awarded to the best USA national or club orienteering team in 2014, based on results at national and international events.

Eligibility rules:
To be awarded any of the individual awards a nominee has to be a USA citizen and must be a member of Orienteering USA in good standing during the current calendar year. Additionally, for the Junior Orienteer of the Year award, the nominee must be no older than 20 at the end of 2014. To be selected to the Orienteering Team of the Year award, all team members have to be Orienteering USA members and represent the US or an Orienteering USA member club in competition.
Competitors in any forms of orienteering are eligible, including Foot-O, Ski-O, Mt.Bike-O, Trail-O, and ROGAINE.

The committee making final selections from among those who are nominated consists of:
Patrick Nuss, Peter Gagarin, Boris Granovskiy, Linda Kohn and Peter Goodwin (chair).

Please send nominations (due November 20th) for any or all of the awards, along with a brief discussion of why the nominee deserves to win, to the committee chair, presently Peter Goodwin at pgwolfe66@gmail.com.
Past Winners

2013
Orienteer of the Year Alison Crocker CSU/SMOC
Junior Orienteer of the Year Ethan Childs, GMOC
Comet of the Year Tom Puzak , MNOC
Orienteering Team of the Year U.S. Team to the World Games

2012
Orienteer of the Year Alison Crocker CSU
Junior Orienteer of the Year Andrew Childs GMOC
Comet of the Year Giacomo Barbone CSU
Orienteering Team of the Year Senior USA Orienteering Team

2011
Orienteer of the Year Alison Crocker CSU
Junior Orienteer of the Year Andrew Childs GMOC
Comet of the Year Alexandra Jospe CSU
Orienteering Team of the Year U.S. Ski Orienteering Team

I would like to nominate Team Nightcrawlers, one of five medal-winning U.S. teams at the 12th World Rogaining Championships (2nd Mixed Ultraveterans) and the reigning U.S. Rogaine Champions in the Mixed Ultraveteran and Superveteran categories. Eric and Mary Smith have been mainstays of the U.S. rogaining scene for over two decades.

My alternative nomination is the team of Dennis Wilkinson and Andrew Peterson. Although they failed to secure medals at the WRC, finishing 8th overall, their result marks the return of a U.S. team to the overall top 10 in the world for the first time since 2004. Neither Dennis nor Andrew is "native" to "orienteering". By focusing on training specifically for rogaining for the past several years, they managed to secure the best North American placing in a decade.

Please forward nominations for the Orienteering Awards directly to me at pgwolfe66 at gmail dot com. We have now seen the results for the National Championships and can be thinking about what we would like to see from the NAOCs. You may want to make nominations after the NAOCs although they can still be sent until November 20th which is after the night and ultralong. But you might forget..... If you want to nominate another person or team later, you can do that, too.

We are almost through the NAOCs and had the US Champs. Just the Night and Ultralong to go but you might send in a nomination (see above for email address). If you think of someone else later, before the deadline, you can send that in, too. Nominate a comet, a team, a junior or the orienteer of the year.

Actually there's also WMOC in Brazil the first week of November.

There were some great performances at the US Champs and the NAOCs. Please send in your nominations before the Nov. 20th deadline. If you send one in now and think of someone later and send that nomination in later, that is fine.

Just curious as to why you would have to nominate people for awards based on performance. Surely the performnances should be able to speak for themselves. What if someone wins everything in sight but no nominator steps up to the plate to send in his/ her name? Do the awards go to the best person or to the best nominated person?
Is there a reason for nominations and can the selection committee go beyond the submitted nominations?

The process for selection is that all the nominations are put together by category. Names of those nominating are not included in this document. Because we are a free country, any member of the committee can nominate individuals as well. In the past, nominations have come in from different points of view and the discussions have been interesting by the committee. So far, in the history of the awards, people who have 'won everything in sight" have been nominated. It hasn't been a problem. However, if you have doubt that the person you have in mind will be nominated, do it yourself. The nominators often have an interesting perspective and get the attention of the committee.

No, I don't have any individual in mind. I would however just suggest a new category - 'Oldie But Goodie', or perhaps 'Fading Comet of the Year' - with the stipulation that no one can win the award more than once every presidential term.

Night-O and Ultralongs are done in a day or so. Get your nominations in for the orienteers of the year! Due by Nov. 20th!

Nominations are due on Nov. 20th. Make a case for your nominee(s) and send them to Peter Goodwin's email that is given above.