Since 2020 has been a year unlike any other, our list of Outsports award honorees for this year is as well.
Our traditional categories — Female Athlete, Male Athlete, Female Hero, Male Hero, Asshole of the Year and Person of the Year — return. We’ve also awarded a new Non-Binary Athlete of the Year, marking the second year for this award.
This year, we’ve added two new awards: the Outsports Moment of the Year and Transgender Athlete Advocate of the Year.
The Moment award recognizes a significant act; This year it was one in support of an out LGBTQ athlete, an act that we think was not only an inspiration in 2020, but will be for years to come.
Although the winner and the nominee for this year’s Non-Binary Athlete identify as both non-binary and transgender, a growing trend, this new transgender award is given to an athlete who identifies as either male or female and also devoted their year to advocacy.
In prior years, trans athletes have been named female and male athletes and heroes, and will again; Nyla Rose is an out trans wrestler who is an honoree this year in the Female Athlete category alongside Sue Bird. But this year, we chose to create this new transgender award in recognition of the ongoing struggles that trans athletes face in sports as well as society. This year’s winner and honoree have shown themselves to be exemplary in publicly combatting transphobia through both sport and public forums.
Our Cyd Zeigler, co-founder Jim Buzinski and for the first time, deputy manager Alex Reimer joined me in selecting these nominees, the winners as well as the other honorees. We strove for diversity, inclusion and most of all, to recognize the impact each award winner has made in the LGBTQ sports community. With the exception of the Asshole of the Year, each and every one furthers our mission and our motto: Courage Is Contagious.
Click below to view prior year Outsports Awards:
