Maccabi Australia 2016 Awards Press Release Maccabi Australia is excited to announce that nominations for the 2016 Maccabi Awards are now open. Maccabi Australia together with Maccabi States work to connect our Jewish community through sport and to this end seek to recognise and reward exceptional sporting and leadership achievements within Maccabi clubs and the wider community. There are awards for outstanding Maccabi sportsmen and women in the Junior, Open and Masters categories, as well as awards recognising those outstanding achievements in the wider community by Jewish athletes. Winners of the 2015 awards include Slalom Canoe champion and Olympic medalist Jessica Fox and Paralympic Table Tennis player Barak Mizrachi, as well as many other outstanding Maccabi and Jewish athletes. Simultaneously, Maccabi Australia would also like to invite eligible athletes to apply for the Rudi Roth Maccabi Australia Scholarship. This is the third year and sadly the first time since Rudi’s passing that the $5000 scholarship will be awarded to an emerging athlete. Rudi had a long-time involvement with Maccabi and was a passionate squash player, also coaching and founding a number of squash clubs in both Sydney and Melbourne. He established the Rudi Roth Maccabi Australia Scholarship Fund to offer exceptional young athletes assistance in reaching their goals. Last year’s winner was International Junior Rhythmic Gymnast Alexandra Kiroi, whose future goals include attending the 2017 Maccabiah Games and qualifying and competing in the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Maccabi Australia President, Barry Smorgon OAM noted, “the quality of Jewish athletes and administrators continues to rise each year and we look forward to another year with an exceptional caliber of nominees.” Nominations close: 31 January 2017 For more information about the awards or to nominate go to www.maccabi.com.au or contact :Ellana Aarons, Executive Director Maccabi Australia at [email protected] .