The World Paddle Awards

The World Paddle Awards (WPA) is held annually, celebrating the most remarkable men and women from the world of paddlesports along with their achievements from the previous calendar year.

The Awards

The awards recognise the diversity of people and organisations in our community and honour the hard work they put into our sport. Not only are there awards for the athletes but also for coaches, officials (volunteers), media, event organisers and so on. Here is an overview and explanation of the Awards.

Furthermore the awards also reflect the fact that there are many different paddlesports within our community. Besides the Olympic disciplines, canoe sprint and canoe slalom, the WPA also respects and celebrates non-Olympic paddlesports. More information on the 15+ different paddlesports.

The winners of the awards will receive The Golden Paddle, a symbol of how each discipline, even though different in sensation to many, requires a paddle used from a boat on water. The Golden Paddle is an emblem of what we have in common and depicts our mission to unite all people and paddlesports. 

As with all awards there is an element of subjectivity, which cannot be avoided. In order to eliminate this as much as possible, both the public and Academy members will cast their votes for each category; there are eight awards in total.

 

The Academy

A unique association of the greatest living sporting legends and other figureheads, the Academy embraces the principle of using sport to help bring positive social change and unite the different paddlesport disciplines. Academy members offer their time to support the work of WPA year round, they share a belief in the power of sport to break down barriers, bring people and the different paddlesport disciplines together, likewise to improve the lives of young people around the world.

The members of the WPA Academy vote by secret ballot to select the Award winners in all seven categories. Their vote has a weighting of approximately 60%. Although the Awards bring attention to those at the top end of our sport, it is also athletes at grassroot-level and lesser known paddlesport disciplines that benefit too.

Meet our Academy Members.

 

People's Choice

The general public and fans select their favourites online from the nominees as presented on the WPA website. The sum of all likes, which you find at the bottom of each nomination, has a weighting of approximately 40%. 

 

Nomination and Voting

Follow the link for a detailed explanation of the nomination and voting procedure.

 

Also read

• About the World Paddle Awards, The Academy and our vision
• What’s in a name? The World Paddle Awards
• WPA Statuette design and the Golden Paddle

 

Download Brochure

For more information about WPA (right mouse) click on the picture left to download the PDF.