The 49th annual Surfer Awards will celebrate the best surfing and surf filmmaking of the year at the Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore of Oahu on December 5, 2019. and via live webcast at SurferAwards.com. The industry’s biggest awards event celebrates the wave riders who have redefined what is possible in the water and shaped surfing culture in the process. The sports’s biggest stars will be on hand vying for several awards including Best Barrel, Best Short and Movie of the Year are known as some of the highest honors in surfing. The 49th annual Surfer Awards will be available via livestream at SurferAwards.com beginning at 8 p.m. HST.
The Surfer Awards have undergone sweeping changes for 2019. This year’s event features an equal number of performance categories for both men and women, the show will also celebrate the world’s best female surfers with awards for Women’s Best Barrel, Women’s Heavy Water, Women’s Best Maneuver and more. The night will also feature brand new categories like Best Style, Best Surfer and Battle of the Vlogs, which will be voted on by surf fans worldwide.
Fans cast their votes in the Surfer Awards Fan Favorite Poll and the fan favorites will be revealed after the show, save for the Battle of the Vlogs champion, who will be crowned during the live show on December 5th.
Voting for the Surfer Awards is done by an esteemed panel of nearly 50 surf experts, modern talents and past icons.
SURFER will also present the A.I. Breakthrough Performer Award, named in honor of the late Hawaiian World Champion Andy irons, to the up and coming surfer who is destined to make an impact on the surf world. In addition, the magazine will also present the Agent of Change Award to honor a group of individuals who use their love of the ocean to better the lives of others or lessen human impact on our coastlines and marine habitats.
This year, the awards will be hosted by big-wave surfing icon and North Shore lifeguard Dave Wassel, as well as longtime contest commentator and colorful media personality Chris Cote. They’ll be joined on stage by the California-based, twin-brother jazz rock duo The Mattson 2, who will be live scoring the show with music from their critically-acclaimed new album “Paradise”.
Started as a tongue-in-cheek reader survey in 1963—when Californian Phil Edwards, fresh off being the first person to ever surf Pipeline the prior winter, became the first Surfer Poll winner. The next year a women’s category was added, and in the early 1990s, surf filmmaking awards were added to the celebration.
While the Surfer Awards is an intimate invite-only affair, SURFER will webcast the event in its entirety at SurferAwards.com on Thursday, December 5th.
Working media are invited to attend and cover the biggest night in surfing on December 5th. To request attendance, complete the online credential request form: https://www.surfermag.com/surfer-awards/surfer-poll-media-credentials/
Special thanks to event partners White Claw Hard Seltzer, PAU Maui Vodka, Honolulu GMC, Guayaki Yerba Mate, Turtle Bay Resort and 10 Barrel Brewing Co. for their support, without which the Surfer Awards would not be possible.
For all of the latest information including photos, video footage, results and more, check out surferawards.com.
About SURFER
In 1960, SURFER began as the original surf magazine. With a long history of delivering provocative and insightful editorial features, revealing interviews and award-winning, state-of-the-art photography, SURFER remains the authoritative voice of the surfing world and thus earned the moniker “The Bible of the Sport.” Through its website, social media channels, magazine, and streaming programming, SURFER continues to be the leading source of compelling content in the surf community, reaching more than 22-million active sports enthusiasts. SURFER is published by American Media, Inc. To learn more, visit surfer.com.
