2026 Yearly Awards

by Tony Lupo

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 Male lifter and one for your choice of the Female lifter. **This is a change from the past – instead of winner and runner-up. We’ll see how it goes this year.
  • The awards are for the accomplishments since last June
  • An individual may be nominated for more than one award
  • If no one is nominated for a category – that award does not need to be given!

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 MALE and FEMALE WINNERS. I will score it this way; for each nomination per award,1 point will be awarded for the nominated winner. I will then add up all the points from all nominations with the person receiving the most points declared the winner. So, you can see that the Award Winners are chosen by YOU THE MEMBERSHIP! That’s the way it should be done.

If you are not aware of people outside your own gym, consider looking at the USAWA website and look for who participates in meets and who does well. Go to:

https://www.usawa.com/membership-roster/      to see who is who!!

Please email me at: lupoa0313@gmail.com with your nominations. The deadline for nominations is May 31st, 2026. 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!!!!