OIWC Seeks Nominations for Pioneering Woman Award

The Outdoor Industries Women’s Coalition (OIWC) is accepting nominations for the Pioneering Woman Award. This award honors women in the industry who have furthered the vision of the OIWC by demonstrating an outstanding commitment to mentoring female colleagues.

OIWC introduced the Pioneering Woman Award to the outdoor industry in 2002. Previous winners for the outdoor industry include Kim Coupounas, Ann Krcik, Norma Hansen, Rachel Ligtenberg, and Kitty Bradley.

“OIWC is the only organization providing this level of mentorship for women in the outdoor industry,” OIWC Director Sally Grimes said. “It’s important that we recognize those women who are helping to further our mission of empowerment and education of women in the outdoor industry.”

The winner of the Pioneering Woman Award will be announced at the popular OIWC Gathering during the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market trade show in January. The recipient will receive a check for $1,000, which will be donated to a charity of her choice in her name. Previous nominees may be nominated again. The OIWC requests that the winner be present to accept her award and ask that nominators take this request into consideration when submitting their nominee.

For questions about the Pioneering Woman Award or the Winter Gathering, contact Carol Louder at carol@macabiskirt.com.

The deadline for nominations is October 20, 2006. Nominations can be submitted online at 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 EMS, Fox River, REI, and W.L. Gore & Associates. At the Gold level, sponsors are Jansport, Mountain Hardwear, and The North Face. Silver sponsors are Backpacker Magazine, Black Diamond, Burton, Camelbak, GearTrends/SNEWS, Hi-Tec, Interbike, Marmot, Outdoor Retailer, Outdoor Wares, The Forest Group, Thule, Timberland, and Tubbs Snowshoes. Bronze sponsors are Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, Cascade Designs, Chaco, Columbia, Contourwear, Fuji Bicycles, GoLite, Guyot, Kelty Woman, Leisure Trends Group, Leki USA, Outdoor Industry Association, Outdoor Research, OutdoorMind, Quality Bicycle Products, Shimano, SIA, Sierra Magazine, and Specialized.

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