Winners of awards for Indigenous sport excellence named

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C — Regional recipients of an award honouring First Nations athletes include a pair of youth with ties to northeast B.C.

Softball player Brooklynn Munch and hockey player Riley Solbrekken are winners of the 2025 Premier’s Awards for Indigenous Youth Excellence in Sport, with their names among 35 individuals announced in a press release on Wednesday, March 25th.

The awards honouring Indigenous athletes across the province were done via a partnership with the Indigenous Sport, Physical Activity and Recreation Council (iSPARC) and the province of B.C.

Through lineage, Munch has ties to Saulteau First Nations of Moberly Lake and Solbrekken has ancestral roots with the N’Quatqua First Nation of D’Arcy and lives in Little Prairie near Chetwynd.

According to the release, the nomination process began in late 2025 and applications were open to Indigenous athletes up to 24 years of age.

Anne Kang, provincial minister of tourism, arts, culture and sport, called the winners and the dedication to their individual sports “truly inspiring.”

Meanwhile, iSPARC said the awards “provide a powerful platform to share the extraordinary stories of Indigenous athletes from across all six regions of the province.”

The award winners represent 20 different sports – including ice hockey, swimming, rodeo, amateur wrestling, volleyball, ringette and basketball.

To commemorate the winners, iSPARC produced a series of videos highlighting each athlete’s region and celebrating the achievement of each recipient. The series will be released daily from Wednesday, March 25th to Monday, March 30th.

Energeticcity.ca has reached out to Munch and Solbrekken for further comment but did not immediately hear back before publication.