The third annual Newschoolers awards went down at Copper Mountain’s Grand Hall tonight and we were stoked to have a real life show again after last year’s entertaining but flawed live stream event. Of course, COVID protocols and travel regulations limited both attendance and capacity, but it was great to hand the majority of our winners their trophies in person and see the stoke for real. Thanks to everyone who came out, it was a blast!
Expertly mc’d by our very own Dr.Zorko and presented by Level 1’s Conor Smith, the show was a laugh and the free drinks were flowing. Our one of a kind trophies designed by Cy Whitling and produced by Gilson Skis looked pretty baller in the limelight if we may say so ourselves.
With over 350 people in attendance, the vibes were lit and you could feel the stoke from nominees, winners and fans alike. A huge thanks to @CLQ @mountaindewgirl @OregonDead for helping out at the door!
This show would not have been possible without our amazing sponsors: Toyota, Woodward Copper, Bulleit, Smirnoff, Don Julio and Gilson Skis.
We also wanted to add some comments fto how we chose our winners. Without further ado, our 2022 Newschoolers Awards winners are:
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Member of the year presented by Gilson Skis - @r00kie
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Outstanding Video Project presented by Arsenic Anywhere: Zootspace
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1022787/OUSTANDING-VIDEO-PROJECT-WINNER-mp4
Put simply this was the hardest award for us to judge. The panel was split and a case could have been made for any of the five movies nominated taking the win. The past year was arguably the craziest of all time for street skiing releases. Most Gutter, Forrmula and Love You Too were all discussed at length but ultimately it came down to two: ITTFMS was one of the most beautiful ski films ever in our opinion and Zootspace was the rawest expression of pure skiing seen for many a year. Ultimately the judges ruled 3 to 2 for Zootspace, worthy winners but every one of these movies was a work of art. Thank you to all of the crews nominated, and the many others who were also discussed. Best year ever.
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Best Short Video: Markus Eder - The Ultimate Run
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1022788/BSV-WINNER-mp4
There were some insane shorts this year, with Siver Voll’s Street Part a personal favorite for me. Joona Kangas did it all, Sam Kuch crushed backcountry and there were so many great edits that had to be omitted at the nominations stage. However there could only be one winner, and to us, it was clear that was Markus Eder’s Ultimate Run. Not only did it surpass the 2 million view mark on YouTube, it did it with a legitimately insane, true representation of freeskiing. Yes there was some cheese, but we were of the opinion that no other skier in the world could have gone out and stacked all of those shots. That makes it hard to beat.
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Trick of the year: Mainio Ormio
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1022789/TOTY-WINNER-mp4
No judging explanation required here, this one is on you guys entirely. We picked 10 tricks but you voted on the winner, and Mainio Ormio’s nosebutter on the pyramid from Forrmula took the W. That’s the second nosebud winner in a row, ya’ll clearly love a guy who can flex.
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Breakthrough Skier Of The Year: Bella Bacon
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1022790/BREAKTHROUGH-WINNER-mp4
A breakthrough performance is perhaps the hardest thing to define of all our awards. We loosely defined it as the skiers who made the most impact on the ski scene, be it via video, comps or social media during the course of the year, having not really been on the radar before this season. Deciding who to nominate was difficult because that impact is incredibly hard to quantify. But the judges were unanimous on the winner: Bella Bacon. She has exploded on to the ski scene with a style that could well define lady shredders forever. Here’s to the future.
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Comp MVP: Max Moffat
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1022791/COMP-WINNER-mp4
This was a tough one for the judging chamber. Marin Hamill absolutely crushed with style for miles all season it but perhaps didn’t have the results to take the overall win. Noah Bowman is by far the best pipe skier to watch in our opinion, but it's just hard to compare pipe to other aspects of skiing. Ferdi continued to kill it with style and creativity all season, his X Games run nearly gave him the three peat in this one... but ultimately, we decided Max Moffat’s grab game and rail technicality, earned him the title of Comp MVP. Thanks for keeping things real Max.
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Crew Of The year: The Bunch
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1022792/CREW-WINNER-mp4
Another truly difficult one this year was the crew award. All our nominees crushed it and a big shoutout needs to go to Most Gutter/Strictly and Buldoz, because they were close in multiple categories but ultimately didn't take home any awards, despite their insane movies. But this one had to go to The Bunch. ITTFMS was a fraction away from movie of the year and Love You Too also made the shortlist. Plus they crushed on social and started a ski company... not bad for a year's work.
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Skier of the year presented by Toyota - Male: Alex Hall
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1022793/M-SOTY-WINNER-mp4
Skier of the year is always a tough one because it’s so difficult to weigh up comp results against video parts, social media content against innovation, style against technicality. Markus Eder dropped one of the greatest video pieces of all time, plain and simple. Alex Hackel got second in real ski, and had another part’s worth of bangers in both ITTFMS & Love You Too. Magnus Graner also had insane performance in both of those movies, including multiple early candidates for our trick of the year list. Sam Kuch raised the bar in the backcountry freestyle game, once again. But ultimately this was a clear decision for the majority of the judges because Alex Hall did it all. He had a solid comp season (great by anyone else’s standards), he won Real Ski then for some reason continued to film street for Security Notice, he ended the Faction movie with a bang and had shots throughout. Who else could they give it to?
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Skier of the year presented by Toyota - Female: Sarah Hoefflin
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1022794/W-SOTY-WINNER-mp4
This was perhaps a more difficult call than the male side because there was no clearcut standout. We are huge fans of Taylor Lundquist and Bella Bacon’s style. Taylor, our winner the last two years, became the first woman to compete in X Games Real Ski. Eileen Gu had a mind-blowing comp season but didn’t film at all. Colline Ballet-Baz raised the bar in backcountry freestyle with her shots in Legs Of Steel but ultimately, we felt nobody had a rounded body of work from the year to compare with Sarah Hoefflin. Multiple comp podiums, a standout performance in Faction’s Roots and a first foray in to street shots sealed the deal for us.
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Hall of fame: Phil Casabon
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1022798/HALL-OF-FAME-STREAM-FINAL-mp4
There are so many legends of skiing out there, past and present who deserve this honor. But each year, we choose to recognize someone who continues to give back to both the ski scene and the NS community. This year we induct none other than Phil Casabon to the club. This doesn’t really need any explanation, but when his umpteenth street part dropped in to our inbox, with some serious hammers yet again, the decision was made. The greatest style in the game in my opinion, this couldn’t be more deserved.
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