Canadian rider Kennedi Deck won the women’s Rookie of the Year award while Icelandic snowboarder Halldor Hellgason won the men’s Readers’ Choice award. The men’s Rider of the Year award went to veteran Japanese snowboarder Kazuhiro Kokubo.
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“Kazu is as respected by his pro rider peer group as much as any,” Transworld wrote. “It is a calculated approach to major career decisions and a loose approach to split-second decisions on the mountain that make Kokubo who he is. As a rider who made a name for himself in the competitive halfpipe realm, Kazu has always been exceptional at riding natural terrain — whether many of his fans realized it or not — but this season marked a new height for him.
That new height for Kokubo was the film he directed and starred in, “Kamikazu,” which won for movie of the year.
“Kamikazu documents some of the best backcountry freestyle riding ever captured,” Transworld wrote, “by a diverse list of riders. From Keegan Valaika’s loose and skatey style, to Blair Habenicht’s powerful approach, this eclectic riding is captured in locations around the globe. Kokubo favored a session-based approach to filming — riding the backcountry in the way one would skate a park with friends.
For more information on this year’s award winners, visit Snowboarding.Transworld.net/riders-poll.
