Jul 12, 2023; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin arrives on the red carpet before the 2023 ESPYS at the Dolby Theatre. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Here at Parity, we are all about celebrating female athletes. With the TV award season in full swing, we couldn’t miss out on a chance to give out some awards of our own. While Hollywood might have the corner on red carpets and designer gowns, the sports world is certainly not without glitz, glamor and drama. The 2025 Parity Oscars round up the best of the best, and give some of the superstars of the women’s sports world their flowers. Read below for our full list of nominees, as well as our winners.
Athlete in a leading role
This award is for the superstars: for the main characters who aren’t afraid of the spotlight.
Parity Nominees
A’ja Wilson
A’ja continued to prove that she is in a league of her own during the 2024 WNBA season, earning her 3rd League MVP honor. Her signature Nike line will soon hit the shelves, and she was recently named one of Time’s women of the year. A’mazing.
Simone Biles
With a stunning comeback after her Tokyo Twisties, Simone proved that rest and prioritizing mental health really does work wonders. She won gold in the vault, team and all-around, with a silver medal in the floor exercise to complete her Parisian hardware collection.
Caitlin Clark
Caitlin’s first year in the WNBA proved that she was worth every bit of hype that surrounded her during her collegiate year. She took home Rookie of the Year and made All-WNBA first team, all the while selling out stadiums and driving WNBA viewership numbers to insane new heights.
Ilona Maher
The “it” girl of the Paris Olympics, Ilona helped lead Team USA rugby to their first Olympic medal. With breathtaking performances on DWTS and a stunning SI swimsuit issue, Ilona has worked hard to continue to remind us that strong is beautiful!
Imane Khelif
Imane was an inspiration to everyone in 2024 as a blueprint for how to rise above the noise. After winning Olympic gold in the 66kg women’s boxing event, Imane blocked out haters coming for her identity and her right to compete, and reigned supreme on a gorgeous Vogue cover.
Our Winner
A’ja Wilson
Source: Cornell Watson for Andscape
Athlete in a supporting role
This award is for the coaches: the athletes who found their calling on the sidelines.
Parity Nominees
Emma Hayes
Emma Hayes took on a seemingly impossible task this year: start a new job in June and produce a miracle by August. But that’s exactly what she did with the US women’s soccer at the 2024 Games. With some tactical changes and controversial call-ups, Hayes had her team looking like the vintage version in a matter of months.
Dawn Staley
With an undefeated season and a championship on top, we’re running out of superlatives for Dawn Staley. She has created a winning machine in South Carolina, and is now the highest paid women’s basketball coach in the country. In our minds? Worth every penny.
Sandy Brondello
Sandy Brondello has been in basketball a long time, and it showed last year. She coached a diverse group of superstars to take home the New York Liberty’s first ever championship, upsetting the Aces’ 3-peat campaign. She doesn’t let anything rattle her.
Seb Hines
You want a magician? Seb Hines took over the Orlando Pride in 2022 as an interim coach, and in 2024 he was Coach of the Year with a championship to boot. He became the winningest coach in Pride history and led his squad to their longest ever unbeaten streak at 23 wins in a season!
Rena Wakama
Rena Wakama is an assistant coach with Tulane’s women’s basketball program, but that’s not why she made our list. She coached the women’s Nigerian Olympic squad to upsets over Australia and Canada in Paris, making her squad the first African team (male or female) to advance beyond the group stage.
Our Winner
Emma Hayes
Source: Getty Images
Makeup and Styling
This is for the athletes who add a little something extra to their game day gear.
Parity Nominees
Sha’Carri Richardson
Sprinter Sha’Carri’s different colored wigs and hair make her stand out on the start line, but the real magic happens at her fingertips. Sha’Carri never travels without her nail tech, who honestly deserves her own gold medal. Check out some of her special race day designs here!
Arjola Dedaj
Arjola is a visually impaired track and field athlete from Italy who turned heads this summer with her beautiful butterfly face mask. Did you know that all visually impaired running athletes are required to wear an eye mask? Arjola took the obligatory part of her uniform and turned it into a fashion statement with wings.
Raven Saunders
Shot putter Raven Saunders is hard to miss on the infield of the track. Her signature two-toned hair and propensity for masks make her stand out even more than her talent. Why the masks? What started as a safety precaution during the pandemic has turned into an accessory that Raven says helps her feel battle ready.
Trinity Rodman
Following Megan Rapinoe’s retirement, Trinity took up the pink hair torch by sporting bubble gum pink braids at the Paris games. Internet theories abounded that there must be a special power in the color, since Trinity went on to have a tournament worthy of Pinoe herself.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
Although the Paris Games didn’t have the fairytale ending Shelly-Ann was hoping for, this FIVE time Olympian still looked like a princess. If you haven’t seen Shelly-Ann’s hairstyles over the years, you’re in for a treat. Allegedly, she once packed 10 wigs for a single World Championship!
Our Winner
Sha’Carri Richardson
Source: Getty Images
Writing
This is for the athletes walking their own path and telling their own stories.
Naya Tapper with Skyler Espinoza, “Leadership and Legacy: Naya Tapper's Impact on USA Rugby”
Athletes who have been all things to all people are special, and Naya is such an athlete. She shared her story with us this past summer and we feel really lucky to have had the chance to share it with all of you. Definitely worth a reread, especially with women’s rugby on the rise!
Naomi Girma, “This is for Katie”
This piece made us cry, both times we read it. Naomi writes an emotional tribute to her friend Katie Meyer, who died by suicide while she and Naomi were teammates at Stanford. It tells the story of a beautiful friendship, and Naomi’s efforts at moving through her personal grief towards her professional goals.
Alise Willoughby, “The Sun is Going to Come Up”
Another tear jerker, Alise writes about losing her mom to cancer, and recalling what a large role her mom played in her development as an athlete. She also shares her husband’s life altering injury, and how they moved through it as a team. It’s an incredibly vulnerable piece, and we can’t recommend it enough.
Mikaela Shiffrin, “Behind the Scenes: Mikaela Shiffrin’s NY Fashion Week”
Mikaela Shiffrin is an athlete who’s been through the ringer and back again. Just recently, she bounced back after a nasty puncture wound for a record breaking 100th world cup victory. We wanted to include this photo essay to show Mikaela’s range and depth, and remind everyone that beauty comes out of the struggle!
Lizzie Stannard, “Why are Women’s Races Shorter than Men’s?”
In her article for Voxwomen, Lizzie takes a well informed approach to a continually baffling question within the cycling community: why are the men’s and women’s race distances so drastically different?
Our Winner
Naomi Girma, "This is for Katie"
Source: The Players' Tribune
Best Picture
This is for the storytellers telling stories about women’s sports!
Joachim Rønning, “Young Woman and the Sea”
This sweeping drama tells the true story of Trudy Ederle, the first woman to swim the English Channel in 1926. The film is beautiful, emotional and timeless, yet still does not inspire me to attempt anything close to this level of insanity. Go Trudy, go.
Katie Walsh, “Simone Biles Rising”
If you’ve read our blog before you know we all have a serious crush on Simone Biles here at Parity. Hearing her tell her story of what happened in Tokyo, then reliving her journey to reclaiming her power was a story we want to watch again and again.
Rachel Morrison, “The Fire Inside”
Inspired by the incredible true story of Claressa Shields, this film follows Claressa’s career from her childhood in Flint, Michigan, to eventually becoming the first US woman to win an Olympic Gold medal in boxing.
Joanna Pardos, “It's All Over: The Kiss That Changed Spanish Football”
The Spanish women’s World Cup Win was an incredibly important story of 2023, and this film takes us through the magic and all of the fallout that came after. This is a really impactful film, and Pardos does a great job telling the painful story of neglect and abuse.
Luca Guadagnino, “Challengers”
Okay, so this one might not be based in real life, but Zendaya + sports + drama? We are so there with our popcorn. If you haven’t seen it yet, cue it up tonight and get ready for some backstabbing and serious plot twists.
Our Winner
“Simone Biles Rising”
Source: Netflix
Do you agree with our picks? Are there any awards you wish you could give female athletes during awards season? Let us know in the comments! We always love hearing from you.
About Parity, a Group 1001 Company
Minority-founded in 2020, Parity's mission is to close the gender income and opportunity gap in professional sports. By developing high-impact collaborations between brands, professional women athletes and their fans, Parity has proudly put more than $3.5 million in the pockets of women athletes, attracting dozens of brands to the movement in the process. The platform offers connections to more than 1000 women athletes from 80+ sports, including well over 200 Olympians and Paralympians. For more information on how to tap into the rapidly rising influence and popularity of women athletes, visit https://paritynow.co or follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Threads.
