Australian Institute of Sport Awards

Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) was opened in 1981. AIS Sports Star of the Year (later named AIS Athlete of the Year) was first established in 1983/84 with the first winner being swimmer Karen Phillips.[1] In 1995, AIS Junior Athlete of the Year was established. Other major awards include AIS Team of The Year, AIS Coach of the Year and AIS Program of the Year.[2] Other awards included: Sport Achievement Awards, Vocation Awards and Education Awards. There were several memorial scholarship awards that recognise the contribution of deceased AIS athletes, coaches and administrators - Brent Harding Memorial Award for Swimming, Nathan Meade Memorial Award for Diving, Gary Knoke Memorial Award for Athletics, Darren Smith Memorial Award for Road Cycling, Ben Mitchell Medal for AFL and Bob Staunton Memorial Award for Basketball.[2]

The awards were broadened in 2013 to include Direct Athlete Assistance recipients as well as AIS scholarship holders as part of the AIS Winning Edge Strategy.[3] The awards were renamed the AIS Sport Performance Awards (ASPAs) in 2014 with several new awards - Sport Personality of the Year, Para Performance of the Year, Community Club Award and Volunteer/Administrator Award.[4] In 2019, two awards - Sport Personality of the Year and Sporting Moment of the Year are decided by public vote.[4][5] There were no awards in 2020 and 2021 due to impact of COVID-19.

  1. ^ Daly, John (1991). Quest for Excellence : the Australian Institute of Sport. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service. pp. 231–234. ISBN 0644136723.
  2. ^ a b "Australian Institute of Sport Awards". Australian Sports Commission website. Archived from the original on 4 November 2013. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  3. ^ "Buchanan and Crow share athlete of the year honours". AIS News, 14 November 2013. Archived from the original on 25 January 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  4. ^ a b "Rabbitohs, Fearnley, Fox win top ASPAS". Australian Sports Commission News, 11 February 2015. Archived from the original on 11 February 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  5. ^ "Barty Party continues at the AIS Awards". Sport Australia. 10 December 2019. Archived from the original on 10 December 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2019.