Arctic Winter Games

Arctic Winter Games

Arctic Winter Games Logo
First event	1970 in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada
Occur every	2 years
Last event	2016 Arctic Winter Games held in Nuuk, Greenland
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.

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.

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

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

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.

The past winners of the trophy are: