Award of Excellence, 2025
Pioneers like Bonnie Korte made it possible for American girls and women to compete in more than kata forms and get absolute parity in rank. In the 1970s, she was traveling internationally, winning shiai medals and blasting through the discriminatory doors that prevented American girls and women from fighting in tournaments with equal representation inside US.
She was a charter member of the USJA Women’s Task force which produced the first academic paper on Women in Judo. A long standing commitment to Women in judo as a competitor, referee, coach, USJA Board of Director over the years more than qualified her to receive the NWMAF Award of Excellence.