BEC Person and Project of the Year Awards



                         


 

The objective of the awards is to give recognition to any person, whether individual or body corporate, who has contributed significantly, outstandingly and positively to the promotion, development and advancement of women in badminton and/or any badminton–related activities in Europe.


Two trophies are awarded each year, with the first edition being in 2012:

  • The Person of the Year Award - To honour a deserving individual who made a difference in the position of women in badminton  in the past year.
  • The Project of the Year Award - To recognise and celebrate the important contributions made through a specific project to develop, encourage and strengthen the participation of women and girls at all levels in the badminton world.

 

2014 Edition

 

The winners of the 2014 Edition are:


2014 Person of the year award winner is Nora Perry, England




Nora Perry had an illustrious playing career(double World Champion, six European Gold Medals, eight All England titles,plus numerous other successes internationally in both Ladies and Mixed Doubles)before turning her hand to both coaching (one example of this was as Über CupCoach to the England Team) and administration (becoming elected to the BWFCouncil in May 2009).  In this latterrole she was responsible for instigating the Women in Badminton movement at BWFlevel – a movement that has now filtered down throughout the ContinentalConfederations. She has been instrumental in leading the change at BWF leveland without doubt has played a large part in raising the profile of the genderequality movement within Badminton and the wider sporting community.  Nora continues to promote women in badmintonvia her role as Deputy Chair of the BWF’s Women’s Commission and is a forcefuladvocate for gender equality within sport – at international, continental andnational level.  



2014 Project of the year award winner is Espoo Women's Open, Finland




Espoo Women’s Open (EWO) is an annual badmintontournament for girls and women only, which is played every spring in Espoo,Finland. The first EWO was played in 2009 with approximately 90 players and thenumber of players has risen every year reaching 140 players last spring.  The goal of the project has been to organizean annual, excellent tournament for all girls and women, where they can feelappreciated. The tournament functions also as an entry level tournament forbeginners and one of the goals has been to encourage more girls and women totake part in competitive badminton. Since the tournament gathers girls and womenfrom all levels, it provides a great opportunity for the young girls to learnby watching the elite women playing.  



2013 Edition 

Link to the article about 2013 Women in Badminton Awards Inspirational "Work Has Been Awarded".

2013 Person of the Year
A person’s ability to truly inspire others is rare and merits recognition. The BEC Women in Badminton Person of the Year Award wants to honour a deserving individual who made a difference in the position of women in badminton in the past year. This award is offered by the Badminton Europe Council in cooperation with BEC’s Women in Badminton committee.
It is important that the nomination forms highlight in what way the person can be seen as a role model for women and in what the project has been making valuable contribution to promote women in badminton in Europe.
 
2013 Project of the Year

The BEC Women in Badminton Project of the Year Award is attributed annually to recognise and celebrate the important contributions made through a specific project to develop, encourage and strengthen the participation of women and girls at all levels in the badminton world. This award is offered by the Badminton Europe Council in cooperation with BEC’s Women in Badminton committee.


Both awards will be presented during the 1st BEC Awards Gala Dinner as a part of the 2013 BEC Annual Delegates’ Meeting. The ADM will be held on 20 April 2013 in Bratislava, Slovakia, and we hope that the winners will take part to receive their prize. Alternatively, we will hand over the awards to the Member Association representation in attendance.

 
The winners of the 2013 Edition are:

2013 Person of the year award winner is Kirsten Larsen, Denmark




2013 Project of the year award winner is Girls Camp, Serbia


 

 

2012 Edition
  
The winners for the first year are:
 

2012 Person of the Year Award - Johanna Persson, Sweden

 


Johanna Persson  is a former professional badminton player with three Europeans Championships’ bronze medals (WD and MIX) and the 2004 Olympic Games quarter-finalist in Mixed Doubles. In her home country Sweden, Johanna is recognised as a role model for female badminton players. She initiated and started an educational project ‘Girls of Badminton’, to encourage and promote females within the Swedish Badminton Association.


The focus of the project, which is well supported by Swedish Sports Federation and Swedish Badminton Association, is to support the development of women involved in badminton as a player, but mostly as a person, a human being.




 2012 Project of the Year Award - Women in Sport, Ireland



The 2012 Award of the Women in Badminton (WiB) "Project of the year" went to Badminton Ireland for their efforts to increase the participation of women and girls in the sport at all levels.
 
In 2011 Badminton Ireland launched their ‘Women in Sport’ project in partnership with the Irish Sports Council. The project aimed to increase the participation of Women in Badminton across all areas of the sport including players, coaches, managers and officials. The basis of Badminton Ireland’s application for the award was the five initiatives they had launched to meet their aims.

The first was a Women in Coaching initiative. Badminton Ireland aimed to increase the number of female coaches in their country by offering subsidised coaching courses to all females that took part. The second initiative focussed more on the players aspect and specifically tried to open up high quality coaching to a younger generation of female athletes by offering them subsidised places on Irish training camps. The third initiative aimed to increase the overall number of females participating in the sport by offering women’s morning clubs for those females who had young children at school or who were retired. Through this innovative method badminton was introduced to, and embraced by, a wholly new female population.

The fourth initiative was designed to encourage and maintain the increased female interest in badminton, all new female club members were given a discount on their memberships. Finally, Ireland targeted an increase in female technical officials by setting up a court officials group ‘Women in the Chair’ with a female Chairperson
 
The scope, initiative and success of the project earned it the honour of becoming the inaugural BEC Women In Badminton “Project of the Year’. On receiving the award on behalf of Badminton Ireland, Richard Vaughan, Chief Executive commented; "Badminton Ireland is delighted to be recognised for its work in bringing more women into the sport. It is a priority for us and our partners at the Irish Sports Council to increase participation levels. Latest research highlights the importance of individual sports in bringing women into sport and keeping them active so badminton is well placed to make a contribution through planned and resourced programmes".
 
Cheryl Evans, Events Officer, said that everyone in Badminton Ireland was delighted to have won the Award as a lot of hard work had gone into the projects that were undertaken.

Since winning the award female development has gone from strength to strength. In October 2012 Ireland again led the way in female development within Badminton by hosting a Women in Sport Future Series. The event was managed and run by females.
 
Refereeing the tournament was Spain’s Carmen Martinez Villanueva and the event was run by Cheryl Evans, a member of BEC’s Women In Badminton working group. Umpiring at the tournament was the female, Irish umpire Carol Ui Fhearghail who has represented her nation at the Olympic Games. The event was a great success.
 
Cheryl Evans said ‘’It was a first for Ireland to run the Future Series with predominantly women in charge of all areas of the event.  Along with Carol and Carmen, our female President Breda Connolly presented the prizes, we had female lines people and volunteers and since this event more women have come forward to express their interest in working in all areas of the sport’’.  Badminton Ireland feel the future is bright for females within the sport.

Badminton Ireland continue to strive to develop their female participation in Badminton through implementation of their initiatives and continuing passion to make a significant change. Winning the BEC Women In Badminton 'Project of the Year' award was a great honour for Ireland. It symbolised recognition of the developments Ireland had already achieved and, more importantly, it has encouraged them to continue striving to support the overall development of females in badminton.


For more information, please contact Badminton Europe office: jeroenvandijk@badmintoneurope.com