Les Harrison Award

Where would the sport of curling in New Brunswick be without volunteers? Volunteers are the backbone of any successful curling club and rarely get the recognition they deserve. That is why the New Brunswick Curling Association has introduced the Les Harrison Volunteer Award.

Les Harrison is a former Manager of Air Traffic Control Services and retired in 1998 from Nav Canada following a 38 year career. He has been a Moncton area resident for over 30 years where he has taken an active role on the local curling scene. He is a former president of the Beaver Curling Club and the New Brunswick Curling Association where he was made an Honorary Life Member in 1987.

In 1997 Les ran successfully for a position on the Board of the Canadian Curling Association where he served for six years. The same year he was nominated by the CCA to be Canada’s representative to the World Curling Federation.

As WCF executive member he successfully ran the WCF´s Programs and services Committee where he initiated the Development Assistance Program to assist member associations curling development that included building facilities.

In 2000 he was elected Vice President at the Annual General Assembly in Glasgow. In 2002 and 2004 he was re-elected at the same position. He has served on the Management Committee for day to day operations and on The Competitions and Rules Committee. In 2006, Les Harrison was elected the new President of the World Curling Federation.
Les is married to Sharon and they have three daughters and five grand children.

For all these reasons and more, the New Brunswick Curling Association has started this initiative in his honour. The Volunteer of the Year Award is based on the nominee’s contributions to curling. The winner of the award will be recognized for their efforts during the current season.

Eligible volunteers include:

• Curler
• Coach
• Official
• Board member
• Committee member
• Ice maker
• Club member

Or anyone that has contributed in any of the following areas:

• Special event (i.e. championship hosted at the club, anniversary celebrations);
• Building construction, renovations or upgrades (unpaid work);
• Program development for adults, juniors, youth or schools (elementary, secondary, collegiate, university);
• Specific fundraising campaign;
• Successful membership campaign;
• Successful volunteer recruitment;
• Paid staff – where their contribution was above and beyond the job description they are responsible to carry out;
• Volunteers working on sanctioned national or international championships;
• Provincial / Territorial member association volunteers at the zone, district, regional, provincial/territorial, national or international levels;
• Course conductors, instructors

Note: eligible nominations are not necessarily restricted to these areas. If your club has a deserving and eligible volunteer who contributed in an area not listed here, please send it in. It will be considered equally. The deadline for nominations is April 4th. A decision on the finalists and the winner will be formally announced at the NBCA Annual General Meeting.