ISHA Donors Set New Record, 2021 Awards

During the Covid19 shutdown, ski resorts went into shock, and at this writing have not yet recovered. Nonprofit organizations of all sorts faced financial crisis as corporate sponsors retrenched. ISHA faced a cash-flow crunch: we couldn’t be sure of the revenue to support production and mailing of the magazine, the website and the next round of ISHA Awards.

And so, in October, we asked ISHA members to dig deep and contribute early to our annual fourth-quarter fundraising campaign. And you did! By year’s end, ISHA’s loyal and generous donors beat the previous fundraising record by 15 percent, contributing more than $136,000 in gifts by individuals and families. And most of our corporate sponsors renewed their commitment to ISHA’s mission.

As a result ISHA completed its fiscal year with only half the deficit we forecast last March, at the beginning of the Covid19 shutdown. On behalf of fundraising chair John McMurtry, and campaign leaders Christin Cooper and Penny Pitou, ISHA thanks its donor-members, its sponsors and the dedicated readers of Skiing History.

Look for details of ISHA’s fundraising and financial status in the upcoming March-April issue.

ISHA Awards 2021

ISHA’s Awards Committed has announced the winners of the 2021 ISHA Awards, honoring the best works of history published during 2020. They are:

Ullr Awards

 Maurice Isserman for The Winter Army, a history of the 10th Mountain Division.
 Janez Kavar for Americani na Magartu 1945, recounting a 10th Mountain Division race in Slovenia.
 Maurice Woerhlé for Peuples du Ski, a 10,000 year history of the skiing peoples of Eurasia.

Skade Awards

 Donald A. Johnston for Hotel Kosciusko, a history of the Australian ski resort.
 John W. Lundin for Skiing Sun Valley, a history of the resort from its beginning.
 Robin Morning for For the Love of It, the story of Roma and Dave McCoy.
 Cathleen Norman with Alan Henceroth for Arapahoe Basin, a history of the ski area.
 Nancy Stone for Buck Hill, a history of the ski area.
 Martin Rhomberg and Christof Thöny for Sichtbar, Eugen Heimhuber’s photos of the Arlberg, 1900 to 1930.
 Ingrid Wicken for Lost Ski Areas of Tahoe and Donner

Baldur Award

 Jimmy Petterson for Skiing Around the World II, stories about exotic ski areas.

Film Awards

 Kate Leimbuehler, Jeremy Snyder and Hans Rosenwinkel for “Fresh Tracks,” about pioneer amputee skier Paul Leimbuehler.
 Claire Abbe Brown, Scott Lyons and Susie Theis for “The American Downhiller,” the story of U.S. men who won classic downhills.

The Awards will be presented during an online event to be held in April. To see the 2020 Awards Presentation Program, and for details about ISHA Awards, go to https://skiinghistory.org/events Meanwhile, watch for reviews of the winning books and films in the Media Reviews section of the magazine.

Changing of the guard

Kathleen James joined ISHA in 2009 as editor of Skiing History. She expanded her role in 2015, overseeing ISHA’s day-to-day operations, including membership services and fundraising. The continuing success of the magazine and ISHA’s infrastructure is largely due to Kathleen’s wisdom, diligence and expertise.

Two years ago, Kathleen was elected to the Vermont General Assembly, representing her hometown of Manchester and several nearby communities. She was re-elected in November 2020. With increasing responsibility in the Education Committee and several caucuses—focusing on climate action, tourism, and the rural economy—she recently resigned from ISHA to focus on her political work. If you’d like to reach Kathleen, she still receives email at kathleen@skiinghistory.org.

In 2019, ISHA hired Kathe Dillmann as Business and Events Manager, and Laurie Glover as Membership Services and Marketing Manager. They may be contacted at kathe@skiinghistory.org and laurie@skiinghistory.org. They’ve now smoothly assumed all of Kathleen’s administrative duties and I’m sure readers communicating with the office will find them every bit as helpful and informative as Kathleen was.

Throughout the past year, Greg Ditrinco has shared editing duties at the magazine with Kathleen. With this issue, Greg takes the reins. Greg knows ski-magazine publishing inside and out. He joined Snow Country in 1995, then worked at SKI Magazine from 1999 to 2017, first as executive editor and then as editor-in-chief. And he’s familiar with ISHA, as he won an ISHA Award in 2011 for the 75th Anniversary Issue of SKI Magazine. Contact Greg at greg@skiinghistory.org.

Frankly, we’re still figuring out how to fill the hole left when John Fry passed on a year ago. But we’re confident of maintaining the very high standards John set for the magazine.

Late deliveries

Many readers didn’t receive the November-December issue until January. The magazine was mailed December 9, but got caught up in the widespread holiday postal delays. Next year we’ll mail that issue before Thanksgiving. So sorry for the inconvenience.