Oakley Big Wave Viewer's Choice Award

Oakley Big Wave Viewer's Choice Award

Oakley and Surfing Life are excited to announce the addition of the Viewer's Choice category to this years' Oakley Big Wave Awards. For the first time in the awards' history, Oakley and Surfing Life will be handing over voting power to the surfing community to choose their favourite entry at www.bigwaveawards.com.au.

The Viewer's Choice Award will be granted to the surfer and giant wave that impresses the public most, acknowledging Australian and New Zealand big wave fans that make competitions like these possible. The surfer to take out the Viewer's Choice category will receive a coveted surf trip to an international big wave destination. Voters will also go in the draw to win weekly prizes including Oakley gear and GoPro Hero 4 Black's.

With only three weeks remaining for entries, the Oakley Big Wave Awards 2014/2015 deadline is fast approaching. Contestants have until Australia Day, 26^th January, to register and be in with the chance of competing against some of the boldest and best big wave surfers and photographers in the world. Entering Oakley Big Wave Awards' is simple: ride the biggest and best wave in Australian or New Zealand waters and make sure to catch it on camera.

'If you're one of our registered surfers, or just a talented big wave rider who hasn't entered before, and you've got a bomb hidden away, now's the time to get in touch and blow it up," says Event Coordinator Nick Carroll.

Once entries close on 26^th January, finalists will be chosen by a rider's only judging process, unique to this event. The winners will then be decided by the expert judging panel, who will have the task of splitting AUD$35,000 in prize money between Biggest Paddle-in Ride, Biggest Slab, the photography -Shooter' Awards, and the big one – the AUD$20,000 Biggest Wave Award itself.

Over the past 13 years, the Oakley Big Wave Awards has become the leading big wave competition in the Southern Hemisphere. Previous Big Wave Award winners include NSW's Laurie Towner, Ross Clarke-Jones and Mark Matthews, WA's Damon Eastaugh and Alex Cater, and NZ's Doug Young and Daniel Kereopa (in the Paddle-in division), amongst others.

This year's awards will be presented at a star-studded evening at Manly's Wharf Bar on Wednesday 11^th February. The gala presentation evening will run from 7pm to 11pm and the guest list will include high profile surfers, celebrities and industry figureheads including this year's Oakley Big Wave Awards ambassador, Hawaiian big wave royalty, Makua Rothman.

For more information on the Oakley Big Wave Awards, and to enter, visit: www.bigwaveawards.com.au.

Established in 1975 and headquartered in Southern California, Oakley is one of the leading sports brands in the world. The holder of more than 600 patents, Oakley is continually seeking problems, solving them with inventions and wrapping those inventions in art. This philosophy has made Oakley one of the most iconic and inimitable brands on the market, with innovations that world-class athletes around the globe depend on to compete at the highest level possible. Oakley is famed for its insuperable lens technologies such as High Definition Optics® (HDO®) which is incorporated into all Oakley sun and prescription eyewear, and all premium Oakley goggles. Oakley has extended its leadership position as the world's leading sports eyewear brand into apparel, footwear and accessories collections. Laser focused on the consumer, Oakley has both men's and women's product lines that target Sports Performance, Active and Lifestyle consumers. Oakley is a subsidiary of Luxottica Group. Additional information is available at http://www.oakley.com.au.

The Awards, now in their 13th year, have come to highlight a side of surfing that's way beyond both the recreational mainstream and the professional competitive arena – a zone where seemingly normal people take seemingly outlandish risks, and achieve huge things with seemingly little concern for fame or renown – Surfing Life and Oakley reward these spectacular achievements.  

Oakley Big Wave Awards' have become the leading big wave competition in the Southern Hemisphere over the past decade. The majority of competitors do what they do for the love and thrill of riding large waves, pushing the boundaries of what is rideable and survivable, using their homegrown skills and experience to push the sport's limits, often without much publicity or attention, apart from that of their mates and shocked spectators. Surfing Life's Oakley Big Wave Awards are designed to showcase these epic efforts in the way they deserve.