SportsTravel magazine announced the winners of the 2009 SportsTravel Awards at the TEAMS 2009 Conference & Expo held October 13-17 in New Orleans. TEAMS: Travel, Events And Management in Sports, is the world’s largest gathering of event organizers and travel planners from the sports industry. The 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Boise, Idaho, won the top prize as Sports Event of the Year…
SportsTravel magazine announced the winners of the 2009 SportsTravel Awards at the TEAMS 2009 Conference & Expo held October 13-17 in New Orleans. TEAMS: Travel, Events And Management in Sports, is the world’s largest gathering of event organizers and travel planners from the sports industry. The 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Boise, Idaho, won the top prize as Sports Event of the Year.
The SportsTravel Award winners were nominated and voted upon by readers of SportsTravel, the sports world’s event magazine. To be eligible, events had to occur between July 1, 2008, and June 30, 2009. Criteria for nomination and voting included:
– Superior organization of and attendance at the event
– The event provided a superior experience for competitors and/or spectators
– The event’s host city or venue served to enhance the event
"We are pleased to recognize these superior sporting events. Each of the winners is a prime example of achieving excellence in organization and management for both competitors and spectators," said Timothy Schneider, publisher of SportsTravel magazine, which organizes the annual TEAMS Conference and Expo.
"The SportsTravel Awards program is an opportunity for our readers to honor their peers for a job well done," said Schneider. "Our readers are the leaders of the sports-event industry, and they really know what it takes to execute high-quality athletic events. These awards reflect their expert evaluation of what makes events superior."
The ballot included nominees at the amateur, collegiate and professional levels in three categories each. Each event’s host city was also acknowledged during the awards ceremony.
The 2009 SportsTravel Award winners are:
- Sports Event of the Year
2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games, Boise, ID - Best New Sports Event
2008 National Youth Baseball Championships, Memphis, TN - Best Professional Sports Event Series or Circuit
2009 NHL Stanley Cup Finals, Detroit, MI and Pittsburgh, PA - Best Professional Multi-Sport or Multi-Discipline Event
2009 ESPN Winter X Games, Aspen, CO - Best Professional Single-Sport Event
Super Bowl XLIII (Pittsburgh vs. Arizona), Tampa, FL - Best Collegiate Sports Event Series or Circuit
2009 NCAA Men’s Final Four, Detroit, MI - Best Collegiate Multi-Sport or Multi-Discipline Event
2009 Collegiate National Finals Rodeo, Casper, WY - Best Collegiate Single-Sport Event
2008 Texas vs. Oklahoma football game, Dallas, TX - Best Amateur Sports Event Series or Circuit
2008 Little League World Series, Williamsport, PA - Best Amateur Multi-Sport or Multi-Discipline Event
2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games, Boise, ID - Best Amateur Single-Sport Event
2009 USA Hockey Pond Hockey Championships, Eagle River, WI
Paralympic champion Chris Waddell provided a moving keynote address as part of this year’s SportsTravel Awards ceremony. In late September, Waddell became the first paraplegic to summit Mount Kilimanjaro.
The TEAMS Conference & Expo is organized by Schneider Publishing, the Los Angeles-based company that publishes SportsTravel and Association News magazines. Earlier this year, TEAMS was named one of the 50 fastest-growing trade shows across all categories by Tradeshow Week magazine for the fifth time.
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