HOLLYWOOD’S annual night of the stars, a Tinseltown celebration watched by millions around the world, is an American event that has caught the fancy of a global market.

Germany and the Euro Commonwealth have introduced the NEA Awards with all the glitz, hype, and attempted glamor as the Academy Awards. If this catches on, Europe will have claimed a turf that is rightly theirs. Europeans are on the cutting edge of natural active sports with sports such as windsurfing national pastimes in countries like France.

Last year a windsurfer from Munich, Joseph Schoeninger, successfully launched the first NEA Awards for extreme sports heros. Instantly, the savvy cultural marketing agents of Europe saw an opportunity to create something Euro. What better way to unite the world than through athleticism and extreme sports, which is entertainment? The Internet allowed millions of sports fans from around the world the opportunity to cast their votes. A roaring success last year, the 2001 NEA Awards will be a landmark event and welcome promotion for new generation heros.

For this year’s NEA Awards, 175 extreme sports athletes from eighteen different nations, five videos, five print ads, five industry websites, and five music acts are nominated. The nominations came from 126 magazines of sixteen different countries. For windsurfing, the male nominations are: Bjorn Dunkerbeck, Francisco Goya, Josh Angulo, Josh Stone, and Kevin Pritchard; for female windsurfers: Iballa Ruano Moreno, Daida Ruano Moreno, Karin Jaggi, Luciene Ernst, and Tony Frey; and for newcomers: Andy Pusch, Colette Guadagnino, Diony Guadagnino, Kevin Ponichtera, and Levi Siver.

You can cast your vote between now and June 30th, 2001 at www.nea-awards.com.