Nominations have today opened for the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) 2013 Paralympic Sport Awards that will recognize global athletes for their performances at the London 2012 Games.
The awards, which have been given out every two years since 2005, are presented in the five categories of best male athlete, best female athlete, best team performance, best Paralympic Games debut and exemplary Paralympic Games official.
This year’s winners will follow in the footsteps of the likes of Australian swimmer Matthew Cowdrey, Canadian wheelchair racer Chantal Petitclerc, New Zealand’s swimmer Sophie Pascoe and China’s Beijing 2008 Chef de Mission Wang Xinxian, who were all winners at the 2009 ceremony – the last for summer sports.
Germany’s alpine skier Gerd Schönfelder and Nordic skier Verena Bentele, Japan’s ice sledge hockey team and Ukrainian Nordic skier Oleksandra Kononova all claimed titles at the last awards ceremony in 2011, but Canada remains the nation to have taken home the most honors, winning five different honors.
Paralympic Family members, including National Paralympic Committees, Regional Paralympic Committees, Internationals Federations and International Organizations of Sports for the Disabled (IOSDs), are eligible to put forward athletes, with each organization entitled to submit one nomination per category.
All nominations must be related to the London 2012 Paralympic Games period and must be submitted to the IPC headquarters before 12:00 (CET) on June 10.
To request a nomination form contact Claire.Magras@paralympic.org.
An Awards Committee will select the winners before notifying them in August, with the prizes to be handed out at a ceremony in Athens on November 23.
The awards ceremony will be held in partnership with IPC International Partner Allianz and coincides with the IPC General Assembly and Conference.
Contact the writer of this story at emily.goddard@insidethegames.biz. Inside the Games is an online blog of the London Organizing Committee that staged the 2012 London Games. The blog continues to cover issues that are important to the Olympic Movement. This article is reprinted here with permission of the blog editors.