The Professional Hockey Writers Association has voted by an overwhelming margin to reveal each voter’s individual ballot following the 2018 National Hockey League Awards ceremony.
After an internal debate that stretched over many months, PHWA Members voted 81.3% in favour of full transparency, in a run-off conducted over a two-week period this March. This decision will result in the publication of each of the approximately 170 ballots, within days of the NHL Awards ceremony in Las Vegas in late June.
Following in the footsteps our brethren with the Baseball Writers Association of America, the time has come for hockey writers to be more publicly accountable for their voting patterns.
“As journalists we expect full transparency from the teams and people we cover,” said PHWA President Mark Spector. “Our Members are aware that the same is expected of us from our readers, and many voters have voluntarily revealed their ballots in the past. As a group, we have concluded that it is time to make full transparency part and parcel of voting on the NHL Awards.”
Despite the fact we feel that today’s voting process has evolved into the most fair and equitable process in the long history of the PHWA’s participation, in 2018 hockey fans want to know how each Member votes.
As critics and observers of the game ourselves, we recognize that our participation in Awards voting should be open to the scrutiny of our knowledgeable readers across the hockey world.
Members of the PHWA annually cast votes to decide major NHL Awards each spring in the Hart, Norris, Calder, Selke, Masterton, Lady Byng and Conn Smythe trophies, as well as the end-of-season NHL All-Star and All-Rookie teams.
Awards voting closes prior to the beginning of the Stanley Cup playoffs.