Executive Council
Children, Seniors and Social Development
June 26, 2019

Premier Ball Presents Awards to Province’s Top Athletes

Today, the Honourable Dwight Ball, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, recognized 125 of the province’s top athletes at the 15^th annual Premier’s Athletic Awards ceremony in St. John’s.

The Premier’s Athletic Awards program recognizes athletic excellence and provides financial support to help offset the costs of training and competition. Ranging from $500 to $1,500, grants are awarded based on the athletes’ respective accomplishments and their level of competition.

The Team Gushue Awards were also presented today, which are in honour of Team Gushue’s gold medal win at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Valued at $5,000 each, the awards are presented annually to one male and one female who excel both athletically and academically. The winners of this year’s awards are Noah Cumby of St. John’s (swimming) and Maggie Connors of St. John’s (hockey).

Noah Cumby is currently enrolled at Texas Christian University where he finished his first semester with a 3.4 grade point average. He was named Swim Newfoundland and Labrador 2018 Male Swimmer of the Year after setting six provincial swimming records, and was also named team rookie of the year after his freshman year at university.

Maggie Connors recently completed her first year at Princeton University after graduating from Shattuck-St. Mary’s high school in Minnesota with a 3.9 grade point average. In January 2018, she won a bronze medal as a member of Team Canada at the Under 18 World Hockey Championships in Russia. She followed that up by competing with the Canadian National Development Team in a series of games against the United States that were held in Calgary last August. In fall 2018, Ms. Connors started her NCAA hockey career at Princeton University and enjoyed a fantastic freshman season, finishing second in team scoring and was named to the conference all-rookie team.

For a complete list of 2019 Premier’s Athletic Awards recipients, please see the backgrounder below.

Quotes
“What a privilege it is to have the opportunity to recognize and award some of the top athletes from our province with the 2019 Premier’s Athletic Awards. I wish this year’s award recipients every success in the future. Your accomplishments are considerable and you serve as fine role models for all Newfoundland and Labrador athletes.”

Honourable Dwight Ball
Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador

“I want to extend my sincere congratulations to the winners of this year’s athletic awards. You are a true inspiration to us all and we commend you for your hard work, determination and commitment to your sport. It is a focus of our government to increase physical activity and to improve healthy living, and our province’s athletes are prime examples of what can be achieved when we focus on staying active and eating healthy.”

Honourable Lisa Dempster
Minister of Children, Seniors and Social Development

– 30 –

Learn more
Athletic Excellence Fund application

Sport Newfoundland and Labrador 

Follow us on Twitter: @GovNL  and @CSSD_GovNL 

Media contacts
Erin Sulley
Office of the Premier
709-729-3960
[email protected]

Gina MacArthur
Children, Seniors and Social Development
709-729-3768, 730-2977
[email protected]

 

BACKGROUNDER

2019 Premier’s Athletic Awards and Team Gushue Awards Recipients

 

Hockey	Jennifer Bidgood	Witless Bay
	Shae-Lynn Clarke	Bell Island
	Maggie Connors	St. John’s
	Zachary Dean	Mount Pearl
	William Dyke	St. John’s
	Carmen Elliott	Stephenville
	Benjamin James	St. John’s
	Abby Newhook	St. John’s
	Alex Newhook	St. John’s