AKC opens nominations for President’s Sportsman Award through August 17

The American Kennel Club has opened nominations for its President’s Sportsman Award, a second-year honor that puts conduct and culture on the same scoreboard as ribbons and titles. The nomination window runs through Monday, August 17, 2026, and the AKC will name one adult recipient and one junior recipient.

The award is aimed at people who consistently reflect the AKC Code of Sportsmanship and Civility, which the organization updated in 2025. That code was written to reinforce responsible and respectful behavior at events and online, and it puts fairness, respect, equity, inclusion, and courtesy front and center for exhibitors, judges, officials, volunteers, spectators, and staff. The AKC also says the welfare of competing dogs remains a top priority, a reminder that fast runs, big air, and intense ringside pressure still depend on human restraint.

For the high-drive sports crowd, that emphasis lands in a very real place. Agility, dock diving, and other performance events are at their best when the handling is sharp, the ring is orderly, and the atmosphere stays constructive even when competition gets hot. By elevating sportsmanship, the AKC is signaling that the way people carry themselves under pressure matters just as much as the way a dog performs, especially for junior handlers, newcomers, and clubs trying to keep a welcoming culture around demanding sports.

The President’s Sportsman Award itself was established in September 2025 and was first presented on December 13, 2025, at the 25th AKC National Championship in Orlando. The inaugural recipients were Agi Hejja and Julia “Maddie” Powers, with Hejja recognized for long service in the Kuvasz and Leonberger communities and Powers honored as a junior exhibitor and Tibetan Spaniel breeder. This year’s honorees will be invited back to the AKC National Championship Presented by Royal Canin in Orlando, Florida, in December 2026.

The award also fits into a broader AKC pattern of using recognition to shape behavior across the sport. The AKC Outstanding Sportsmanship Award program dates to 2006, and the AKC Humane Fund Awards for Canine Excellence drew more than 700 nominations in 2025. In a dog world built on energy, speed, and drive, the latest nomination call makes the human side of the team impossible to miss.