Billabong XXL Big Wave Awards Nominees Announced for Wipeout andPerformance - 2014 Awards Show is Coming on May 2nd

NEWPORT BEACH, CA - (April 7, 2014) - The nominees in three of the most popular categories of the 2014 Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards have just been revealed, adding to the momentum as the gala awards show approaches for big wave surfing's greatest annual eventon May 2. The top finalists for the Wipeout of the Year, the Surfline Best Overall Performance (male) and Billabong Women's Performance (female) awards can be viewed on the event website at www.BillabongXXL.com, and ballots are about to go out to the surfing world's top athletes, photographers and journalists this week to determine the winners. The nominees have already been unveiled for the Ride of the Year, XXL Biggest Wave, Biggest Paddle and Best Tube divisions, representing over $120,000 in prizes for the surfer and photographer winners.

In contention for the famed XXL Wipeout of the Year honors are five surfers at three notorious big wave breaks scattered around the world. Among this year's candidates are Shawn Dollar and Alex Martins who suffered spectacular malfunctions at their home break of Maverick's in Northern California, along with French Polynesian Alain Riou and Hawaiian Koa Rothman, who both went end-over-end at Teahupoo, Tahiti.  Rounding out the top five is Australian Jamie Mitchell - who parted ways with his surfboard during a try at what was probably the biggest paddle-in wave ever attempted in the history of the sport at Belharra Reef, France. 

Shawn Dollar drops a Best Wipeout vote into the ballot box at Maverick's. Photo by Paul Topp.

Once again, the surfing public will be able to have their opinion count in the selection of the winning wipeout by voting on Surfline.com. One third of the tally to determine the most spectacularly unsuccessful ride of the year will be derived from the Surfline poll over the next three weeks, with the balance of scoring coming from the elite academy of surfing experts ala the Oscar-style voting process. To review the nominees and cast your vote on Surfline, clickHERE. The nominees are also available by visiting the Wipeouts page of the XXL event website.

Also announced today are the nominees for both of the overall performance categories. According to the rules of the Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards, these divisions will be won by the "surfer who puts on the greatest number of outstanding performances at the most diverse number of venues over the course of the entire year." Generally regarded as the international benchmark for year-round excellence, the nominees for the Surfline Best Overall Performance Award are South African Grant "Twiggy" Baker, Hawaiian Shane Dorian, Australian Jamie Mitchell, along with Californians Greg Long and Shawn Dollar. To view a video clip featuring representative moments of each surfer's fantastic year, click to visit the web page for the Surfline Best Overall Performance Award.

Click above to view all five Surfline Best Performance Award Nominees.

On the female side, the Billabong Girls Performance Award nominees include perennial Hawaiian standouts Paige Alms and Keala Kennelly, Brazilan stars Maya Gaberia and Andrea Moller, plus underground Californian Bianca Valenti. The web page featuring all the best women's big wave surfing action of the last year can be examined with a simple CLICK HERE.

The winners of all the categories of this year's event will be announced at the invitation-only Billabong XXL Big Wave Awards party at the Grove Theater in Anaheim, California on May 2, 2014. The show will be webcast that night on BillabongXXL.com and will be available on-demand on YouTube the following day. This year's event marks the 14th-annual edition of the Billabong XXL Big Wave Awards, an event open to every qualified surfer at every break on every day of the year -- so long as the action is captured by a video or still camera and submitted for judging by the XXL's voting academy of expert surfers and lensmen. Over 1,000 images were entered into the event before being filtered down to the definitive images of each nominated ride.

The final nominees for 2014, in alphabetical order:

FIVE XXL WIPEOUT OF THE YEAR AWARD NOMINEES

     (Surfer prize $2,000 - Video prize $1,000)

Shawn Dollar (Santa Cruz, California, USA) at Maverick's, California.

     (Video by Paul Topp.)

Alex Martins (San Francisco, California, USA) at Maverick's, California.

     (Video by Erik W. Nelson.)

Jamie Mitchell (Gold Coast, Australia) at Belharra Reef, France.

     (Video by Vincent Kardasik.)

Alain Riou (Tahiti, French Polynesia) at Teahupoo, Tahiti.

     (Video by Tim Pruvost.)

Koa Rothman (Sunset Beach, Hawaii) at Teahupoo, Tahiti.

     (Video by Tim Pruvost.)

FIVE SURFLINE BEST PERFORMANCE AWARD NOMINEES

     (Surfer prize $5,000)

Grant Baker  (Durban, South Africa)

Shawn Dollar  (Santa Cruz, California, USA)

Shane Dorian  (Kona, Hawaii, USA)

Greg Long  (San Clemente, California, USA)

Jamie Mitchell  (Gold Coast, Australia)

THREE BILLABONG GIRLS BEST PERFORMANCE AWARD NOMINEES

     (Surfer prize $5,000)

Paige Alms  (Haiku, Hawaii, USA)

Maya Gabeira  (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Keala Kennelly  (Haleiwa, Hawaii, USA)

Andrea Moller  (Ilhabela, Brazil)

Bianca Valenti  (Mill Valley, California, USA)