SURFER is pleased to announce Friends of Sunset Beach as the 2016 SURFER Awards “Agent of Change” award recipient and beneficiary of proceeds from VIP table sales. The foundation will be honored on Dec. 6, 2016 at the 46th annual event honoring the best surfers, films and performances of the year. Watch history unfold at the most prestigious night in surfing at SurferAwards.com airing live from Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore of Oahu beginning at 9 pm PST.
“The SURFER Awards are a celebration of both surfing and surf filmmaking, and we’re happy to help fund art education on the North Shore and support the next generation of surf filmmakers,” said SURFER Editor Todd Prodanovich. “Thanks to Friends of Sunset Beach, students at Sunset Beach Elementary will be able to discover their creative passions, and one day we hope to see one of these students up on stage accepting their own SURFER Award.”
Friends of Sunset Beach is a 100 percent volunteer and donation-based non-profit, dedicated to supporting the arts program at Sunset Beach Elementary and to increase awareness and opportunities for all of the North Shore community to participate in and understand the arts. In 2004, Hawaii’s Reinventing Education Act gave school administrators greater control over their budgets. Faced with the pressure to show student performance on standardized tests, many schools chose to cut arts education funding in order to focus on core subjects. In 2009 a group of parents joined together and created Friends of Sunset Beach to raise funds to ensure that every child has the opportunity to experience art education.
“Friends of Sunset Beach has been dedicated to developing and implementing an art program at Sunset Beach Elementary School since 2010. We are a 100 percent volunteer based organization whose main goal is to bring the arts back into our elementary school,” says Cathy Shanley, President, Friends of Sunset Beach. “This wonderful award will help to build awareness in our community, as well as directly aid in the success of our annual event, ‘Celebrating the Arts,’ where all of the fundraising occurs that makes our program possible. We are excited to have three teachers on board with degrees in art and music education teaching at SBES, all supported by Friends of Sunset Beach. Mahalo for this incredible honor!”
Each year, the Agent of Change award recognizes an organization or individual making a positive impact on the surfing community. Friends of Sunset Beach joins an esteemed list of recipients that includes: North Shore Community Land Trust (2015), Sustainable Surf (2014), Dustin Barca with Hawai’I SEED (2013), Paddle2Live (2012), Operation Amped (2011), the Mauli Ola Foundation (2010), Dr. Dave Jenkins with SurfAid International (2009), and Dave Rastovich with Surfers for Cetaceans (2008).
To learn more about FOSB, visit friendsofsunsetbeach.org or follow on Facebook.
Tune into the SURFER Awards webcast beginning at 9 pm PST (7 pm HST) on Tuesday, Dec. 6th, where all of the winners will be announced live at SurferAwards.com from the exclusive awards ceremony at Turtle Bay Resort. In addition to Top 10 Men and Top 10 Women as voted on by fans, awards will also be presented for Best Barrel, Worst Wipeout, Heavy Water (an award for excellence/craziness in big-wave charging), Best Performance, Best Documentary, Best Short (for films under 20 minutes), and the big one, Movie of the Year.
Special thanks to SURFER partners Nexen Tire, Martin Guitar, Banzai Bowls and Turtle Bay Resort for helping to bring the biggest night in surfing to life.
About SURFER
In 1960, SURFER began as the original surf magazine. With a long history of delivering provocative and insightful editorial features, revealing interviews and award-winning, state-of-the-art photography, SURFER remains the authoritative voice of the surfing world and thus earned the moniker “the bible of the sport.” Through its website, social media channels, magazine, and television programming, SURFER continues to be the most current and reliable source of information to the surf community, reaching more than 22-million active sports enthusiasts. SURFER is published by TEN: The Enthusiast Network. To learn more, visit surfermag.com
About TEN: The Enthusiast Network
TEN: The Enthusiast Network is the world’s premier transmedia network of enthusiast brands, such as MOTOR TREND, AUTOMOBILE, HOT ROD, SURFER, TRANSWORLD SKATEBOARDING, and GRINDTV. With more than 60 websites, 50 publications, 50 annual events, the Motor Trend OnDemand subscription video-on-demand service, as well as the world’s largest automotive and action/adventure sports media platforms, TEN inspires enthusiasts to pursue their passions. For more information, visit enthusiastnetwork.com.
