Arctic Winter Games

Arctic Winter Games
	Arctic Winter Games Logo
First event	1970 in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada
Occur every	two years
Last event	2014 Arctic Winter Games held in Fairbanks, Alaska
Purpose	Sports for the Arctic
President	Gerry Thick
Website	ArcticWinterGames.org

The Arctic Winter Games is an international biennial celebration of circumpolar sports and culture.

Background

The Arctic Winter Games were founded in 1969 under the leadership of Governor Walter J. Hickel of Alaska, Stuart M. Hodgson, Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, and Yukon Commissioner James Smith. The idea to "provide a forum where athletes from the circumpolar North could compete on their own terms, on their own turf" came from Cal Miller, an advisor with the Yukon team at the 1967 Canada Winter Games.

In 1970 in Yellowknife, Canada, 500 athletes, trainers and officials came together for the first Arctic Winter Games. The participants came from the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Alaska. Since then, the Games have been held on fifteen occasions in different places and with ever more participants from more and more places within the Arctic region. The games in 2002 were the first jointly hosted Arctic Winter Games, by Nuuk, Greenland and Iqaluit, Nunavut.

Participants

A total of nine contingents participated in the Arctic Winter Games. The same group of teams also made up the participants of the previous games ^[1]

Alaska, United States
Greenland
Northern Alberta, Canada
Northwest Territories, Canada
Nunavik, Quebec, Canada
Nunavut, Canada
Sami people, Sápmi (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Kola Peninsula of Russia)
Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia
Yukon, Canada

Host cities

Host cities have mostly been in Canada and the United States.

Year	Host
1970	Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
1972	Whitehorse, Yukon
1974	Anchorage, Alaska
1976	Schefferville, Quebec
1978	Hay River/Pine Point, Northwest Territories
1980	Whitehorse, Yukon
1982	Fairbanks, Alaska
1984	Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
1986	Whitehorse, Yukon
1988	Fairbanks, Alaska
1990	Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
1992	Whitehorse, Yukon
1994	Slave Lake, Alberta
1996	Chugiak/Eagle River, (Anchorage), Alaska
1998	Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
2000	Whitehorse, Yukon
2002	Nuuk, Greenland/Iqaluit, Nunavut
2004	Wood Buffalo, Alberta
2006	Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska
2008	Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
2010	Grande Prairie, Alberta
2012	Whitehorse, Yukon
2014	Fairbanks, Alaska
2016	Nuuk, Greenland^[2]
2018	Hay River/Fort Smith, Northwest Territories^[3]

Hodgson Trophy

The Hodgson trophy for fair play and team spirit is awarded at the end of every games. The trophy is named for Stuart Milton Hodgson, former Commissioner of the Northwest Territories.^[4]

The past winners of the trophy are:^[4]

Winner	Year
Alaska	1978
Yukon	1980-1988
Alaska	1990
NWT	1992
Greenland	1994
NWT	1996
Yukon	1998
Nunavut	2000
Greenland	2002
Nunavut	2004
Alaska	2006
Nunavut	2008
Alaska	2010
Nunavut	2012
Greenland	2014