The 2018 Premier’s Awards for Indigenous Youth Excellence in Sport were presented Nov. 7 to eight outstanding athletes from British Columbia’s Interior Region.
Among the honourees are Adams Lake Indian Band member 16-year-old Lincoln Yarama, who excels in rodeo, hockey and trap shoot, Little Shuswap Lake Indian Band softball star Brianna Billy, age 15, and Splatsin Band’s 17-year-old James Hamming in snowboard cross.
The awards were presented during a formal celebration held at the Outma Sqilx’W Cultural School in Penticton.
The Interior is the third of the Indigenous Sport, Physical Activity & Recreation Council’s (I·SPARC) six regions to honour indigenous athletes through this unique province-wide awards program.
I·SPARC, in collaboration with the Province of British Columbia, launched the regional nomination process in August 2018, receiving nominations from across the province for indigenous athletes under 25 years of age who are competing in performance sport and committed to living healthy, active lifestyles.
Related: Lincoln Yarama riding high in the rodeo world
A total of 47 recipients were chosen from six regions.
“I’m very proud to support these awards, which provide much-deserved recognition for our top young Indigenous athletes,” said Premier John Horgan. “It’s great to see these young champions achieving top results in such a wide variety of sports.”
“We are proud to recognize the outstanding achievements of our First Nations and Métis athletes in the Interior,” said Bruce Baptiste, Interior Regional Lead for I·SPARC. “The recipients we have honoured tonight have dedicated their time to achieving excellence and we look forward to the continued success of these young role models.”
These Regional recipients automatically serve as nominees for the Provincial Awards. A total of 12 Provincial Awards (six male and six female) will be selected in January 2019. Provincial recipients will be presented with their award at Gathering our Voices: Indigenous Youth Leadership Forum in Port Alberni March 19-22, 2019.
Throughout November, the three remaining regions will host formal celebrations to honour their 2018 Regional Premier’s Awards recipients.
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