Awards Celebration Planned for January 21, 2011 at Outdoor Retailer Winter Market Show
Boulder, CO – The outdoor industry is home to some of the most impactful initiatives, leaders and businesses to be found anywhere around the globe, and the OIA Outdoor Inspiration Awards has chosen four winners from among the hundreds of nominations to receive the 2011 honors. Selected by a panel of outdoor business and community leaders from a diverse group of finalists across three categories (Person, Group and Company), the winners of the 2011 OIA Outdoor Inspiration Awards, presented by adidas Outdoor, are:
- Martin Fox, Center for Global Leadership – PERSON
- First Descents – GROUP
- Mountain Mama – COMPANY
- REI – COMPANY
Martin Fox is considered to be one of the best leadership educators in the country, weaving the outdoors into a diverse curriculum that focuses on making a difference in the world around you. Using the outdoors as his primary classroom, Fox is known for inspiring leaders in their younger years, to carry forward and do great things while respecting the world around them.
First Descents, the 2011 Group category winner, is a non-profit group dedicated to giving young cancer survivors a taste of outdoor adventure that helps them look beyond what their bodies are doing to them. First Descents provides free courses in whitewater kayaking, rock climbing, mountain biking and surfing that empower young adults to regain control of their lives through outdoor adventure sports.
The Company category was split into two due to the difference in reach and resources that can affect change within the outdoor industry. Mountain Mama was born in 2009 from the belief that women who are pregnant or newly mothers want to (and in many cases should) remain active in the outdoor pursuits that they love and want to foster in their children. Providing maternity clothing for outdoor recreation, including the only-known technical maternity snow pant, Mountain Mama has champions all over the country who sing its praises as the only product line of its kind “in the world.”
Last, but certainly not least, is probably one of the most recognized brands in the outdoor industry, REI. REI has built a successful business engaging consumers in the outdoors, and these same consumers reinvest again and again working with REI team members all across the country to gear-up, get advice, experience new adventures, and even travel around the world with REI Adventures. A recognized champion of the outdoor lifestyle, REI’s core purpose "to inspire, educate and outfit for a lifetime of outdoor adventure and stewardship" is very much in evidence in all that they do.
“Inspiration is one of the core values shared by outdoor industry businesses and it fuels our passion to get more and more people involved in outdoor recreation,” said Frank Hugelmeyer, president and CEO of Outdoor Industry Association. “These four incredible winners have inspired millions of people to include the outdoors in their lives, and that will foster millions more to come along with them.”
Hundreds of business and outdoor leaders will gather during the evening of January 21, 2011, to recognize each of these inspiring influencers affecting outdoor recreation today, and one of their own inspirations, mountaineer Reinhold Messner, will be on hand to talk about his inspirations and to take part in the Award presentations. The celebration, taking place Friday, January 21, 2011, at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., is happening right in the heart of the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market trade show, one of the largest annual gatherings of outdoor-involved companies attracting thousands of participants from all over the globe.
“Some of the winners are effecting global change and some are just as effectively influencing local changes, and they all deserve recognition for their efforts,” said Greg Thomsen, managing director for adidas Outdoor US, the sponsor behind the 2011 OIA Outdoor Inspiration Awards. “The winners have done remarkable things with their resources, and we look forward to recognizing them and their accomplishments thus far.”
OIA members and Outdoor Retailer Winter Market show attendees need to RSVP to attend the OIA Inspiration Awards celebration by visiting www.outdoorindustry.org/inspiration/rsvp. Tickets to the awards celebration can also be picked up on-site at Outdoor Retailer Winter Market at the OIA booth, #56000.