World No 1 bowls player Jo Edwards has been awarded the equivalent of the sport's first "Oscar" award.
Edwards, from Nelson, was named as the recipient of the award at a Confederation Mondiale des Sport de Boules ceremony in Italy.
President Romolo Rizzoli awarded the champions of the four disciplines (raffa, lyonnaise, petanque and lawn bowls) that were nominated by their respective international federations.
Edwards was nominated by World Bowls after an amazing year in which the Kiwi returned from an 18-month break to continue her successful bowling career.
Among her many accolades, Edwards has won a Commonwealth Games gold medal in the pairs (2002), two World Bowls pairs gold medals (2004 and 2008) and the World Champion of Champion Singles title last year. Her singles victory put the finishing touches to a stellar season in which the 42-year-old won the World Cup Indoor singles title for the third year in a row and took both the singles and pairs titles back at home in the National Open Championships.
