Northern Star Award | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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Northern Star Award

The Northern Star Award (formerly the Lou Marsh Trophy) is presented annually to Canada’s best athlete. It is decided by a committee of Canadian sports journalists convened by the Toronto Star. First awarded in 1936, the prize was originally named after sports journalist Lou Marsh. Calls to change the name of the award — due to Marsh’s long, documented history of racism and discrimination — led to it being renamed the Northern Star Award in November 2022. The trophy is made of black marble and stands about 75 cm high. It is kept on exhibit at Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame. The most recent winner is basketball player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Lou Marsh

Louis Edwin Marsh died on 5 March 1936 after 43 years as a journalist. At the time, he was regarded as the dean of Canadian sports journalism. In his youth, he was an excellent all-around athlete. He played on the Toronto Senior Argonaut football team and was a good sprinter and strong swimmer. He was credited with some 15 rescues in the water. He raced iceboats and small speedboats, for which he coined the term "sea fleas," and was a highly regarded referee in boxing and ice hockey. His daily sports column, called “With Pick and Shovel,” appeared in the Toronto Star from 1925 to 1936.

At various points in its history, the trophy was called either the Lou Marsh Trophy, the Lou Marsh Memorial Trophy or the Lou Marsh Award. However, in more recent years, calls grew to rename the award, due to Marsh’s long, documented history of promoting racist, anti-Semitic and discriminatory attitudes in his column. In February 2021, Dr. Janice Forsyth, associate professor of sociology at Western University, published a study of Marsh’s body of work that shows, in her words, “just how hostile his sports reporting was.” As Global News’ Mike Drolet put it, “What [Marsh] routinely wrote about the great [Onondaga] runner Tom Longboat, among others, is unprintable today.” (See Tom Longboat.) Marsh also opposed calls for Canada to boycott the 1936 Olympic Summer Games in Berlin, Germany, and referred to Nazi Germany’s persecution of Jewish people as “an internal German matter.”

In November 2021, the Toronto Star agreed to assess “whether it is appropriate and fitting to continue to have his name associated with the award.” In November 2022, the Star announced that the trophy would be renamed the Northern Star Award.

lou marsh

Notable Winners

Track athlete Dr. Phillip Edwards was the inaugural winner in 1936. Hockey star Wayne Gretzky received the award the most times (four), followed by figure skater Barbara Ann Scott (three). A number of athletes have twice received the trophy: golfer Marlene Streit, skier Nancy Greene, jockey Sandy Hawley, sprinter Ben Johnson, auto racer Jacques Villeneuve, hockey player Sidney Crosby, and baseball player Joey Votto. The award has been shared on three occasions: between skier Ken Read and swimmer Graham Smith in 1978; between Gretzky and wheelchair racer Rick Hansen in 1983; and between soccer player Alphonso Davies and football player Laurent Duvernay-Tardif in 2020.

The trophy is made of black marble and stands about 75 cm high. The words “With Pick and Shovel” appear above the engraved names of the winners. The trophy is kept on exhibit at Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.

Northern Star Award Winners

Year

Athlete

Sport

1936

Phil Edwards

Track and Field

1937

W. Marshall Cleland

Equestrian

1938

Bob Pearce

Rowing

1939

Bob Pirie

Swimming

1940

Gérard Côté

Track and Field

1941

Theo Dubois

Rowing

1942

Not awarded

1943

Not awarded

1944

Not awarded

1945

Barbara Ann Scott

Figure Skating

1946

Joe Krol

Football

1947

Barbara Ann Scott

Figure Skating

1948

Barbara Ann Scott

Figure Skating

1949

Cliff Lumsden

Swimming

1950

Bob McFarlane

Football, Track and Field

1951

Marlene Streit

Golf

1952

George Genereux

Shooting

1953

Doug Hepburn

Weightlifting

1954

Marilyn Bell

Swimming

1955

Beth Whittall

Swimming

1956

Marlene Streit

Golf

1957

Maurice Richard

Hockey

1958

Lucille Wheeler

Skiing

1959

Barbara Wagner and Bob Paul

Figure Skating

1960

Ann Heggtveit

Skiing

1961

Bruce Kidd

Track and Field

1962

Don Jackson

Figure Skating

1963

Bill Crothers

Track and Field

1964

George Hungerford and Roger Jackson

Rowing

1965

Petra Burka

Figure Skating

1966

Elaine Tanner

Swimming

1967

Nancy Greene

Skiing

1968

Nancy Greene

Skiing

1969

Russ Jackson

Football

1970

Bobby Orr

Hockey

1971

Hervé Filion

Harness Racing

1972

Phil Esposito

Hockey

1973

Sandy Hawley

Horse Racing

1974

Ferguson Jenkins

Baseball

1975

Bobby Clarke

Hockey

1976

Sandy Hawley

Horse Racing

1977

Guy Lafleur

Hockey

1978

Ken Read
Graham Smith

Skiing
Swimming

1979

Sandra Post

Golf

1980

Terry Fox

Marathon of Hope

1981

Susan Nattrass

Shooting

1982

Wayne Gretzky

Hockey

1983

Wayne Gretzky
Rick Hansen

Hockey
Wheelchair Racing

1984

Gaetan Boucher

Speed Skating

1985

Wayne Gretzky

Hockey

1986

Ben Johnson

Track and Field

1987

Ben Johnson

Track and Field

1988

Carolyn Waldo

Synchronized Swimming

1989

Wayne Gretzky

Hockey

1990

Kurt Browning

Figure Skating

1991

Silken Laumann

Rowing

1992

Mark Tewksbury

Swimming

1993

Mario Lemieux

Hockey

1994

Myriam Bédard

Biathlon

1995

Jacques Villeneuve

Auto Racing

1996

Donovan Bailey

Track and Field

1997

Jacques Villeneuve

Auto Racing

1998

Larry Walker

Baseball

1999

Caroline Brunet

Kayak

2000

Daniel Igali

Wrestling

2001

Jamie Salé and David Pelletier

Figure Skating

2002

Catriona Le May Doan

Speed Skating

2003

Mike Weir

Golf

2004

Adam van Koeverden

Kayak

2005

Steve Nash

Basketball

2006

Cindy Klassen

Speed Skating

2007

Sidney Crosby

Hockey

2008

Chantal Petitclerc

Wheelchair Racing

2009

Sidney Crosby

Hockey

2010

Joey Votto

Baseball

2011

Patrick Chan

Figure Skating

2012

Christine Sinclair

Soccer

2013

Jon Cornish

Football

2014

Kaillie Humphries

Bobsleigh

2015

Carey Price

Hockey

2016

Penny Oleksiak

Swimming

2017

Joey Votto

Baseball

2018

Mikael Kingsbury

Freestyle Skiing

2019

Bianca Andreescu

Tennis

2020

Alphonso Davies
Laurent Duvernay-Tardif

Soccer
Football

2021

Damian Warner

Track and Field

2022

Marie-Philip Poulin

Hockey

2023

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Basketball

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