The NWT’s Byron Kotokak and Solenn Kikoak are this year’s regional recipients of Tom Longboat awards for outstanding contribution to sport.
The awards, administered by the national Aboriginal Sport Circle, were handed out at a gala in Ottawa on Saturday.
Kotokak, who is from Tuktoyaktuk and now lives in Yellowknife, received the Tom Longboat award for his services to Arctic sports.
He has participated in the past two Arctic Winter Games as an athlete and a coach, providing support not only to Team NT athletes but anyone who needed advice. He mentors athletes and officiates at other events like the Traditional Games Championships and Indigenous Summer Games.
“It was really shocking for me” to receive an email about the award, Kotokak said.
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“It means a lot. I have a big passion for the games, and I still have a couple more years of competing hopefully. After that, it’s going to come down to coaching for sure. I would love to carry the games on.”
Fort Smith’s Solenn Kikoak received the Tom Longboat award for her involvement in figure skating. She has skated competitively since the age of eight.
Kikoak, now 16, has competed in three Arctic Winter Games. She has helped her team take home a bronze ulu in 2026 and silver in 2024.
She was given a fair play pin in 2024 for supporting athletes on other teams, a pin Kotokak has also received for his support of athletes on competing teams.
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“The fair play pin is the award for kindness and being just a happy person to be around, and treating everybody the same no matter what,” said Kikoak.
“I think the way that they described why I got it was because I was very uplifting and kind to everybody, and I was able to help the volunteers and communicate with everybody pretty well.”
When she’s not skating, Kikoak can also be found competing in athletics.
“I didn’t really know about the award until I was chosen to be a recipient,” Kikoak said.
“I’m a track athlete myself, and knowing that [Tom Longboat] was a long distance runner is so cool … I think it’s such a big thing.”
Twenty-two Indigenous athletes from across the country received regional awards in 2026, with two of those recipients also receiving a national award.
In 2025, Danica Taylor and Steven Moore were the NWT’s regional recipients of the award for their work in Arctic sports and soccer. In 2024, Shakita Jensen and James Williams took home the same awards for contributions to hockey and Arctic sports.
