USAWA

by Tony Lupo

If it aint broke ………Thank you to Al Myers, the previous awards director, for his service to the USAWA in this capacity. He started the USAWA Awards Program in 2009 and it’s running smoothly.

It’s that time of the year again to nominate deserving lifters for the yearly awards!  The USAWA award program was started to honor those individuals that display outstanding achievements throughout the year in different categories. Part of the USAWA budget goes to these awards, which means that part of your membership dues supports this program. These awards are to be presented at the Annual General Meeting of the USAWA, which happens at the same time as the National Championships. Usually the USAWA Awards are yearly – meaning they are for the previous year’s accomplishments. I would consider yearly as being the time since (and including) last year’s National Championships. Now for an overview of the rules for nominations:

• You must be a USAWA member to make a nomination or cast a vote
• Nominated individuals must be a USAWA member to be eligible
• Only one individual may be nominated per person per award
• Two nominations for each award may be submitted, one for your choice of the Winner and one for your choice of the runner-up.
• The awards are for the accomplishments since last June
• An individual may be nominated for more than one award

These are the different awards for which you should choose your nominations for:

 Athlete of the Year – This award is for the individual who has accomplished the most athletically within the last year in the USAWA. Top placings at the Nationals and World Championships should figure in highly. Also, participation in other Championship Competitions such as the Heavy Lift Championships, the Grip Championships, the Club Championships, the OTSM Championships, the Team Championships, or the National Postal Championships could factor in.  Participation in elite IAWA events such as the Gold Cup should make an influence on earning this award as well.

Leadership Award – This is for an individual that has shown exceptional leadership qualities within the USAWA during the past year. Things that should be looked at are; going above the level expected of an Officer position, promoting sanctioned events with emphasis being on promoting National or World Competitions, promoting the USAWA by developing a strong club, writing articles for publications about the USAWA, or through other means.

Sportsmanship Award – This goes to an individual who possesses and shows great sportsmanship within the USAWA. The act of sportsmanship may be by conduct at all events, or by an specific example of exceptional sportsmanship.

Courage Award – This goes to an individual who shows the courage to overcome an obstacle in order to return to competition. This may be a comeback from an injury, or just having to deal with difficult personal issues but still shows the courage to compete in the USAWA.

Newcomer Award– This award goes to an individual who in new to the USAWA or has become involved again. It doesn’t have to go to someone in their first year of being involved in the USAWA.

As stated earlier in the rules, I would like you to submit your choice for the WINNER and your choice for the RUNNER UP for each award. I will score it this way; for each nomination per award, 2 points will be awarded for the nominated winner and 1 point for the nominated runner up.  I will then add up all the points from all nominations with the person receiving the most points declared the winner and the one with the second most points the runner up. So, you can see that the Award Winners are chosen by YOU THE MEMBERSHIP! That’s the way it should be done.

Please email me at: lupoa0313@gmail.com with your nominations. The deadline for nominations is May 31^st, 2025. That gives everyone a couple weeks to make their decisions.  My experience with this is that if a person does not make their nominations shortly after reading this announcement, it never gets done. So, make it easy on yourself (and me!) and turn your nominations in today!!!!