The big day is here! HighSchoolOT Honors presented by Crabtree will stream on Thursday, July 22, 2021, at 7:30 pm. For the second year, HighSchoolOT has been unable to host our in-person awards, but the streaming awards show still does a great job at recognizing the best of high school sports across the state.
Finalists and winners are determined each year by nominations and votes cast by thousands of people.
Despite a year of teams battling COVID protocols just to play the sports they love, sports happened and the awards are loaded. The awards show will feature finalists and winners in 3 dozen categories, including:
- An Olympian. Cardinal Gibbons swimmer Claire Curzan will compete in Tokyo. Last year, she was our Athlete of the Year after setting two national records in the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard backstroke at the NCHSAA 4A state championship. She also won the HighSchoolOT Honors Girls Swimmer of the Year.
- The No. 16 overall pick in the 2021 Major League Baseball Draft. Wake Forest High School shortstop Kahlil Watson was picked by the Miami Marlins. He’s a finalist for baseball player of the year and male athlete of the year.
“As always, we have been telling the stories of our Stuart Scott Courage Awards finalists over the last week,” said WRAL Digital Marketing Director Laura Worthington, “Our sports team always does an amazing job honoring these inspiring finalists, but this year’s stories were next level.”
The award is sponsored by PBS North Carolina, where Scott’s sister Susan Scott is the Chief Growth Officer. She will be delivering a special message on Thursday’s awards show.
Stuart Scott Courage Awards finalists stories on HighSchoolOT.com:
The HighSchoolOT Honors awards usually are held in June, but the pandemic caused many sports to be played at different times this year, including pushing back spring sports.
“It’s exciting every year to learn the names as these student athletes and watch them make their way to the next level,” said Worthington. “We saw Claire as a finalist in HighSchoolOT Honors when she was just a freshman at Cardinal Gibbons, and to see her going to the Olympics as a junior is unreal. Because this is our 5th year, I’m also seeing many of our past finalists make names for themselves at both the collegiate and pro level. Randolph Ross graduated from Garner a few years ago, and he won our Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year in 2018 and 2019. I can’t wait to watch our Olympians in action!”
Watch HighSchoolOT Honors live on Thursday at 7:30 on HighSchoolOT.com or wherever you stream WRAL. There’s still time to register so you can get a reminder to watch. Use #HSOThonors on social media to join in the conversation.
The team at HighSchoolOT is excited about today’s presentation and is already looking forward to being back together next year.
“We are already planning to return to an in-person awards show next June,” said Worthington.
Thanks to WRAL Digital’s Laura Worthington for this Capcom scoop.
