OIWC Seeks Nominations for First Ascent Leadership Award

The Outdoor Industries Women’s Coalition (OIWC) has announced they are accepting nominations for the second annual OIWC First Ascent Award. This award recognizes a woman new to the industry who demonstrates strong potential for leadership. The winner will be rewarded with a scholarship for a leadership training course.

“We need to make talented young women at lower levels in an organization visible to the outdoor cognoscenti, and tangibly assist them with their leadership development” said Sally Grimes, OIWC Administrator. “In order to close the leadership gap between men and women in the outdoor industry – we need to start the incubation process now and begin to fill the pipeline.”

Nomination criteria include:
-Candidate must be a young woman who has been in the Outdoor Industry less than five years
-Candidate may be right out of college or recently transitioned from another career
-Nominators must be employed at the same company as the Candidate
-Nominators must be either a peer or a supervisor of the Candidate, or in a higher level position

Nominations may be submitted online through the OIWC website and are due June 1st, 2006. The winner will be announced at Ramp It Up, a fashion show celebrating 10 years with OIWC at the Outdoor Retailer trade show on Friday, August 11th. Transportation to and from the course and seminar costs are covered by the scholarship. Food and accommodations will be the responsibility of the scholarship recipient.

The winner of the inaugural First Ascent Award in 2005 was Jennifer Whitman of Outside Magazine.

For more information on the First Ascent Award or to submit a nomination, visit www.oiwc.org.

OIWC is a non-profit corporation focused on the mission of equipping women to achieve their success. OIWC is sponsored at the Gold Plus level by Fox River, REI, and WL Gore. At the Gold level, sponsors are Jansport, Mountain Hardwear, and The North Face. Silver sponsors are Thule, Hi-Tec, Black Diamond, Burton, Camelbak, Hooked on the Outdoors, The Forest Group, K2 Sports, Marmot, Outdoor Retailer, Timberland, and Tubbs. Bronze sponsors are Leisure Trends Group, Backpacker Magazine, GoLite, Leki USA, Moving Comfort, Outdoor Industry Association, OutdoorMind, SIA, Sierra Magazine, Kelty, and Cascade Designs.


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