As the peak governing body of university sport in the country, UniSport Australia promotes university sport through governance, advocacy and the popular UniSport Nationals competition attracting participants from 43 member universities.
The annual awards recognise the skill, dedication and commitment of individual and team competitors in UniSport events. This round of awards rewarded students, teams and coaches who went above and beyond to stay connected to others through sport in the wake of event cancellations due to public health measures and travel restrictions in 2020.
Of the nine awards on offer, three were presented to UniSA student athletes in a sweep that set the record for South Australian representation.
The award recipients were congratulated on their respective achievements with a reception at Pridham Hall, 18 June 2021, attended by UniSA’s Vice-Chancellor Professor David Lloyd.
The prestigious Female Student Athlete of the Year prize was awarded to Caitlin Adams, pictured below, a student of the Master of Teaching (Secondary), for her achievements in Athletics – Distance Running. Caitlin placed first in the 10km event at the UniSport Virtual Distance Running Championship with a time of 33:19. Caitlin was also awarded the 2020 UniSA Sport Georgie Rowe Outstanding achievement award.
The UniSA Men’s Cycling Team, the UniSA Sport 2020 Team of the Year Award recipient, pictured below, received the Team of the Year Award following their gold medal win in the UniSport Australia Online Cycle Series. Team member Callum Pearce also won bronze in the men’s individual competition.
The award for Most Outstanding Contribution by a Student Volunteer went to UniSA PhD student Douglas Howard, pictured below, the founder and president of the UniSA Tennis Club, winner of the UniSA Sport Club administrator of the Year Award 2020 and a committed UniSA Sport volunteer since 2014.
2021 marks 100 years of UniSport Australia.