2021-03-17

Liverpool host society wins national award for sports event

by KEVIN MCBAIN

  • <p>CONTRIBUTED PHOTO</p><p>The Liverpool Championship Host Society are the winners of the Canadian Sport Tourism PRESTIGE award for its successful hosting of the 2019 World Junior Curling Championships.</p>
  • <p>FILE PHOTO</p><p>Team Canada skips Selena Sturmay (kneeling on the left) and Tyler Tardi (standing, third from left) and their teams, pose along with their coaches after earning silver and gold in the 2019 World Junior Championships held in February 2019.</p>

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Liverpool Championship Host Society is the winner of the latest Sport Tourism Canada PRESTIGE International Sports Event of the Year Award for an event with a budget under $2 million.

The award relates to the society's successful hosting of the World Junior Curling championships in 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, last year the awards presentation, which was due to be held in Edmonton in March 2020, was cancelled. A webcast for the 2019 awards ceremony aired this March 4.

"It is quite an award and a good recognition for all of the sponsors and volunteers," said Greg Thorbourne, chair of the Championship Host Society. "We can bring something like this into the area, but it takes 150 to 200 volunteers and quite a bit of money. So without the sponsors and the volunteers, we would be nothing."

PRESTIGE stands for Program Recognizing Exceptional Sport Tourism Initiatives, Games and Events. The awards are presented annually to individuals and groups in eight different categories. According to the Sport Tourism Canada website, the awards celebrate the people, places and events that make the Canadian Sport Tourism industry so dynamic.

A total of 49 nominations were received for the awards over the various categories.

The World Junior Championship was held February 16 to 23, 2019 at Queens Place Emera Centre, with 20 men's and women's junior curling teams competing from all over the world. Team Canada's Tyler Tardi won the gold medal for the men's, while Selena Sturmay and her squad earned a silver medal for the women's.

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