OTTAWA — Canadian Interuniversity Sport and national law firm Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG) announced Wednesday the eight finalists for the 23rd annual BLG Awards, recognizing the top female and male athletes from universities affiliated with CIS.
On Monday, May 4, the eight national nominees will be honoured at the Martha Cohen Theatre in Calgary. The female and male winners will receive a $10,000 post-graduate scholarship, while all finalists will return home with a commemorative gold ring and a commemorative watch from Timex, the official supplier of CIS.
This will mark the 20th presentation of the awards gala in Calgary. Over the years, the event has also held been held in Toronto (2009, 2013) and Vancouver (2011). The 2015 ceremony will air nationally on Sportsnet later in May.
For the first time this year, the general public will have the opportunity to vote for their favourite candidates. However, the final selection will still rest with the Canadian Athletic Foundation, a not-for-profit board which has selected the winners since the inception of the BLG Awards.
The 2015 nominees for the Jim Thompson Trophy presented to the female BLG Award recipient are rugby player Emma Taylor from St. Francis Xavier University, soccer player Jessica King from Trinity Western University, as well as basketball standouts Mariam Sylla from McGill University and Korissa Williams from the University of Windsor.
On the men’s side, the finalists for the Doug Mitchell Trophy are soccer player Justin Maheu from Cape Breton University, hockey player Cédric McNicoll from McGill University, cross country and track runner Ross Proudfoot from the University of Guelph and football player Andrew Buckley from the University of Calgary.