Northern Star Award

Hockey player Wayne Gretzky has won the Northern Star Award four times, more than any other athlete.

The Northern Star Award,<ref name=Renaming>Template:Cite web</ref> formerly known as the Lou Marsh Trophy, the Lou Marsh Memorial Trophy<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Lou Marsh Award,<ref name="2007Winner"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> is a trophy awarded annually to Canada's top athlete, professional or amateur. It is awarded by a panel of journalists, with the vote taking place in December. It was first awarded in 1936, named in honour of Lou Marsh, a prominent Canadian athlete, referee, and former sports editor of the Toronto Star. The trophy is made of black marble and stands around 75 centimetres high. The words "With Pick and Shovel" (the name of Marsh's long-running Star column) appear above the engraved names of the winners.<ref name="2007Winner">Template:Cite web</ref> The voting panel consists of sports media voters from across the country<ref>Template:Cite web Template:Dead link</ref> including representatives from the Toronto Star, The Canadian Press, FAN590, The Globe and Mail, CBC, Rogers Sportsnet, CTV/TSN, La Presse and the National Post.<ref name="2008Winner"/>

The award has been awarded 80 times and won by 63 individual athletes and three pairs; in the voting for the 2018 Lou Marsh Trophy, it was decided in the future pairs should not be eligible for the trophy, thereby disqualifying Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir from consideration.<ref name="PairsPrecedent">Template:Cite web</ref> Wayne Gretzky won the trophy four times, more than any other athlete, while Barbara Ann Scott won the trophy three times, more than any other woman. It was not awarded from 1942 to 1944 due to World War II.

There were ties between different athletes in 1978 and 2020 with soccer player Alphonso Davies & American football player Laurent Duvernay-Tardif as the most recent co-winners.<ref name="winners2020"/> In 1982, Rick Hansen was the auxiliary award of special merit winner (he won nine gold medals at the Pan-American Wheelchair Games) alongside first-time winner Wayne Gretzky, "who was the unanimous choice of the selection committee".<ref name="1982Winners">Template:Cite web</ref>

On November 16, 2022, it was announced the award would be renamed from the Lou Marsh Award to the Northern Star Award "after concerns were raised about racist language used by Marsh, who died in 1936, during his years of sportswriting."<ref name=Renaming/>

Winners

Kurt Browning, 1990 winner

Donovan Bailey, 1996 winner

Jacques Villeneuve, 1995 and 1997 winner

Jamie Salé and David Pelletier, 2001 winners

Mike Weir, 2003 winner

Adam van Koeverden, 2004 winner

Steve Nash, 2005 winner

Sidney Crosby, 2007 and 2009 winner

Joey Votto, 2010 and 2017 winner

Penny Oleksiak, 2016 winner

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, 2020 winner

Key

• * = Also won the Lionel Conacher Award as Canadian male athlete of the year
• ^ = Also won the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as Canadian female athlete of the year

Year	Winner	Sport	Win #
1936	Template:Sortname *	Track and field	1
1937	Template:Sortname	Equestrian	1
1938	Template:Sortname	Rowing	1
1939	Template:Sortname	Swimming	1
1940	Template:Sortname *	Marathon	1
1941	Template:Sortname	Rowing	1
1942	Template:Sort
1943
1944
1945	Template:Sortname	Figure skating	1
1946	Template:Sortname *	Canadian football	1
1947	Template:Sortname ^	Figure skating	2
1948	Template:Sortname ^	Figure skating	3
1949	Template:Sortname	Swimming	1
1950	Template:Sortname	Canadian football & track and field	1
1951	Template:Sortname	Golf	1
1952	Template:Sortname	Shooting	1
1953	Template:Sortname *	Weightlifting	1
1954	Template:Sortname ^	Swimming	1
1955	Template:Sortname	Swimming	1
1956	Template:Sortname ^	Golf	2
1957	Template:Sortname *	Hockey	1
1958	Template:Sortname ^	Alpine skiing	1
1959	Barbara Wagner & Bob Paul	Figure skating	1
1960	Template:Sortname ^	Alpine skiing	1
1961	Template:Sortname *	Track and field	1
1962	Template:Sortname	Figure skating	1
1963	Template:Sortname	Track and field	1
1964	Template:Sortname & George Hungerford	Rowing	1
1965	Template:Sortname ^	Figure skating	1
1966	Template:Sortname ^	Swimming	1
1967	Template:Sortname ^	Alpine skiing	1
1968	Template:Sortname ^	Alpine skiing	2
1969	Template:Sortname *	Canadian football	1
1970	Template:Sortname *	Hockey	1
1971	Template:Sortname	Harness racing	1
1972	Template:Sortname *	Hockey	1
1973	Template:Sortname	Horse racing	1
1974	Template:Sortname *	Baseball	1
1975	Template:Sortname *	Hockey	1
1976	Template:Sortname	Horse racing	2
1977	Template:Sortname *	Hockey	1
1978	Template:Sortname	Swimming	1
	Template:Sortname *	Alpine skiing
1979	Template:Sortname ^	Golf	1
1980	Template:Sortname<ref name="1980Winner">Template:Cite web</ref>	Marathon of Hope	1
1981	Template:Sortname	Shooting	1
1982	Template:Sortname *	Hockey	1
	Template:Sortname<ref name="1982Winners"/>	Wheelchair racing
1983	Template:Sortname *<ref name="1983Winner">Template:Cite web</ref>	Hockey	2
1984	Template:Sortname	Speed skating	1
1985	Template:Sortname *	Hockey	3
1986	Template:Sortname *	Track and field	1
1987	Template:Sortname *	Track and field	2
1988	Template:Sortname ^	Synchronized swimming	1
1989	Template:Sortname *	Hockey	4
1990	Template:Sortname *	Figure skating	1
1991	Template:Sortname ^	Rowing	1
1992	Template:Sortname *	Swimming	1
1993	Template:Sortname *	Hockey	1
1994	Template:Sortname ^	Biathlon	1
1995	Template:Sortname *	Auto racing	1
1996	Template:Sortname *	Track and field	1
1997	Template:Sortname *	Auto racing	2
1998	Template:Sortname *	Baseball	1
1999	Template:Sortname	Kayaking	1
2000	Template:Sortname	Wrestling	1
2001	Template:Sortname & David Pelletier	Figure skating	1
2002	Template:Sortname ^	Speed skating	1
2003	Template:Sortname *	Golf	1
2004	Template:Sortname	Kayaking	1
2005	Template:Sortname *	Basketball	1
2006	Template:Sortname ^	Speed skating	1
2007	Template:Sortname *	Hockey	1
2008	Template:Sortname ^<ref name="2008Winner">Template:Cite web</ref>	Wheelchair racing	1
2009	Template:Sortname *<ref name="2009Winner">Template:Cite web</ref>	Hockey	2
2010	Template:Sortname<ref name="2010Winner">Template:Cite web</ref>	Baseball	1
2011	Template:Sortname *<ref name="2011Winner">Template:Cite news</ref>	Figure skating	1
2012	Template:Sortname ^<ref name="2012Winner">Template:Cite web</ref>	Soccer	1
2013	Template:Sortname<ref name="2013Winner">Template:Cite web</ref>	Canadian football	1
2014	Template:Sortname<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Bobsleigh	1
2015	Template:Sortname *<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Hockey	1
2016	Template:Sortname ^<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Swimming	1
2017	Template:Sortname<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Baseball	2
2018	Template:Sortname *<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Freestyle skiing	1
2019	Bianca Andreescu ^<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Tennis	1
2020	Template:Sortname *<ref name="winners2020">Template:Cite web</ref>	Soccer	1
	Template:Sortname <ref name="winners2020"/>	American football
2021	Template:Sortname *<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Track and field	1
2022	Template:Sortname ^<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Hockey	1
2023	Template:Sortname *<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Basketball	1
2024	Template:Sortname <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Swimming	1

Winners by sport

Not included in this table are Terry Fox and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, as their respective wins were based on their social contributions, rather than their participation in a sport in general. Fox was awarded for the Marathon of Hope; Duvernay-Tardif was awarded for opting out of playing in the 2020 NFL season for the Kansas City Chiefs after winning Super Bowl LIV to work as an orderly at a long-term care facility during the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec.

Wins	Sport	Template:Small
14	Ice hockey	10
9	Swimming	9
8	Figure skating	7
8	Track and field	7
6	Alpine skiing	5
4	Rowing	4
	Gridiron football	4
	Baseball	3
3	Golf	3
	Speed skating	3
2	Kayaking	2
	Shooting	2
	Wheelchair racing	2
	Soccer	2
	Auto racing	1
	Horse racing	1
	Basketball	2
1	Biathlon	1
	Bobsleigh	1
	Equestrian	1
	Harness racing	1
	Marathon	1
	Synchronized swimming	1
	Weightlifting	1
	Wrestling	1
	Tennis	1
	Freestyle skiing	1

See also

• List of members of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
• Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame
• Lionel Conacher Award
• Bobbie Rosenfeld Award
• Canadian Press Team of the Year Award
• Velma Springstead Trophy
• Sports in Canada
• Athlete of the Year

References

General

• Bob Ferguson, Who's Who in Canadian Sport, Fitzhenry and Whiteside Ltd., 2005, p. 532 (through 2004).
• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite web

Specific

External links

• The Lou Marsh Legacy: Honouring Canada's Top Athletes in the Virtual Museum of Canada