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NASJA RECOGNIZES EXCELLENCE IN SNOWSPORTS

Brian Fairbank Wins Carson White Snowsports Achievement Award;

Lindsey Jacobellis, Dan Egan, Phil Johnson, Alba Adventures,

Kim Jackson and Eric Wilbur Honored

            BOULDER, Colo. (June 1, 2022) – Almost since its predecessor organizations were established 60 years ago, the North American Snowsports Journalist Association (NASJA) has recognized excellence in snowsports achievement and communications. This year was no different as the professional group of 200 Active media and corporate communicators gathered to recognize its own.

Award recipients were announced on May 26, 2022, during a Zoom conference moderated by NASJA vice president Tom Kelly, former voice of the U.S. Ski Team through three decades – and 100 Olympic medals.

The winners were:

Paul Robbins Outstanding Competitor of the Year  – Lindsey Jacobellis, the most decorated female snowboard cross athlete of all time, took a moment while prepping and training for the upcoming season to Zoom in live from Europe for a brief Q & A with Kelly.

Recent past winners of the Paul Robbins Award were Jessie Diggins, Maggie Voisin, Mikaela Shiffrin, and Ted Ligety. The award is named in memory of the late Paul Robbins, who spent 30 years as the primary journalist for the U.S. Ski Team.

Harold S. Hirsch – This award, which recognizes excellence in Words and Images, honored Dan Egan for the best stand-alone story (Words): Finding Our Inner Warren Miller which appeared in Mountain Outlaw magazine, Winter 2021.

Past NASJA president Phil Johnson was honored for his recurring Ski Line column in the Schenectady, New York Daily Gazette during the 2020-21 snowsports season.

In the Images category, Ray and Alicia Alba of Alba Adventures won for Anything but Ordinary – A wintery fairy tale odyssey fit for the Greek Gods. It can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/NasjaAlbaAdventures

The Hirsch Awards are named for Harold S. Hirsch, founder of White Stag Skiwear, who was elected to the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 1990.

The Hirsch Awards were judged by Mark D. Phillips, a former AP photographer (Images); and (Words) judges Marcia Biggs, editor and lead writer for St. Pete Life, and Dana White, a former executive editor of Skiing magazine and senior articles editor at Condé Nast’s Women’s Sports & Fitness.

            NASJA Awards

Carson White Snowsports Achievement Award – Brian Fairbank of The Fairbank Group, received NASJA’s highest honor, bestowed to an individual or individuals who have made a significant contribution to the advancement of snowsports in North America, either achieved with a single, defining accomplishment or through a lifetime of snowsports endeavors.

Fairbank is widely recognized as a pioneer in green energy and sustainability.

Carson White was the first president of the U.S. Ski Writers Association, our predecessor organization.

            Bob Gillen Memorial Award – Kim Jackson, director of communications of Vermont Adaptive, won for contributions to the advancement of snowsports, exemplifying the highest standards of professionalism in public relations and communications. Vermont Adaptive offers inclusive sports and recreational programming for people of all ages, with cognitive, developmental, physical and emotional disabilities.

This award is named for the late Bob Gillen, former SKI Magazine editor and marketer at Crested Butte and Sugarbush resorts, and a staunch ally of NASJA.

             Mitch Kaplan Award – Sports columnist Eric Wilbur, editor of New England Ski Journal, won the Mitch Kaplan Award, named for the journalist whose work best captures the spirit, enthusiasm and dedication that Mitch Kaplan brought to the coverage of snowsports. Kaplan was a former NASJA Secretary-Treasurer and multiple Harold S. Hirsch Award winner.

“By recognizing the very best in snowsports communications, we hope to encourage the next generation of wintersports journalists and corporate representatives to help millions of North Americans of all ages, ethnicities and abilities, get more out of life by sliding on snow,” said NASJA president Jeff Blumenfeld.

About NASJA

            The North American Snowsports Journalists Association (NASJA) is a professional group of 200 press and corporate members. Press members include writers, photographers and other communicators who report on ski, snowboard and Nordic related news, information and features via various media outlets. Corporate members include media contacts or employees of ski resorts, convention and visitor associations, manufacturers and others who have a commercial interest in the journalistic coverage of winter sports. NASJA is committed to encouraging and increasing diversity and inclusivity in snowsports, and welcomes these unique perspectives and experiences, since clearly, the winter playgrounds are for everyone. (www.nasja.org)

Editor’s note: Photos of winners available upon request.

Press contact:

Jeff Blumenfeld

NASJA President

203 326 1200, jeff@blumenfeldpr.com

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