The Most Outstanding Canadian Award is annually awarded to the best Canadian player in the Canadian Football League. The two nominees for the award are the Lew Hayman Trophy winner from the East Division, and the Dr. Beattie Martin Trophy winner from the West Division. The winner of the award is chosen by the Football Reporters of Canada since 1954.https://www.cfl.ca/gibsons Gibsons Finest Player Awards Players born outside Canada may win the award if they become citizens and attain National status.
Player achievements The most wins by a player is four, for both Russ Jackson (completed in 1969) and Tony Gabriel (completed in 1978).
The first two-time winner, and also the first to win the award in two consecutive seasons, is Normie Kwong, in 1955 and 1956. The first three-time winner is Jackson, achieved as of 1966, while Gabriel is the only player to win three consecutive awards, from 1976 through 1978.
When a Canadian player is voted the recipient of the CFL's overall Most Outstanding Player Award, they are, of course, the recipient of that same season's Most Outstanding Canadian Award. Only five players have achieved this recognition: Jackson (1963, 1966, 1969), Gabriel (1978), Jon Cornish (2013), Brady Oliveira (2024) and Nathan Rourke (2025)
CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award winners Year Player Position Club 1954 Gerry James RB Winnipeg Blue Bombers 1955 Normie Kwong RB Edmonton Eskimos 1956 Normie Kwong (2) RB Edmonton Eskimos 1957 Gerry James (2) RB Winnipeg Blue Bombers 1958 Ron Howell FW Hamilton Tiger-Cats 1959 Russ Jackson QB Ottawa Rough Riders 1960 Ron Stewart RB Ottawa Rough Riders 1961 Tony Pajaczkowski OG Calgary Stampeders 1962 Harvey Wylie DB Calgary Stampeders 1963 Russ Jackson (2) QB Ottawa Rough Riders 1964 Tommy Grant F Hamilton Tiger-Cats 1965 Zeno Karcz LB Hamilton Tiger-Cats 1966 Russ Jackson (3) QB Ottawa Rough Riders 1967 Terry Evanshen WR Calgary Stampeders 1968 Ken Nielsen F Winnipeg Blue Bombers 1969 Russ Jackson (4) QB Ottawa Rough Riders 1970 Jim Young WR BC Lions 1971 Terry Evanshen (2) WR Montreal Alouettes 1972 Jim Young (2) WR BC Lions 1973 Gerry Organ K Ottawa Rough Riders 1974 Tony Gabriel TE Hamilton Tiger-Cats 1975 Jim Foley WR Ottawa Rough Riders 1976 Tony Gabriel (2) TE Ottawa Rough Riders 1977 Tony Gabriel (3) TE Ottawa Rough Riders 1978 Tony Gabriel (4) TE Ottawa Rough Riders 1979 Dave Fennell DT Edmonton Eskimos 1980 Gerry Dattilio QB Montreal Alouettes 1981 Joe Poplawski SB Winnipeg Blue Bombers 1982 Rocky DiPietro SB Hamilton Tiger-Cats 1983 Paul Bennett DB Winnipeg Blue Bombers 1984 Nick Arakgi SB Montreal Concordes 1985 Paul Bennett (2) DB Hamilton Tiger-Cats 1986 Joe Poplawski (2) SB Winnipeg Blue Bombers 1987 Scott Flagel S Winnipeg Blue Bombers 1988 Ray Elgaard SB Saskatchewan Roughriders 1989 Rocky DiPietro (2) SB Hamilton Tiger-Cats 1990 Ray Elgaard (2) SB Saskatchewan Roughriders 1991 Blake Marshall FB Edmonton Eskimos 1992 Ray Elgaard (3) SB Saskatchewan Roughriders 1993 Dave Sapunjis SB Calgary Stampeders 1994 Gerald Wilcox SB Winnipeg Blue Bombers 1995 Dave Sapunjis (2) SB Calgary Stampeders 1996 Leroy Blugh DE Edmonton Eskimos 1997 Sean Millington FB BC Lions 1998 Mike Morreale SB Hamilton Tiger-Cats 1999 Mike O'Shea LB Toronto Argonauts 2000 Sean Millington (2) RB BC Lions 2001 Doug Brown DT Winnipeg Blue Bombers 2002 Ben Cahoon WR Montreal Alouettes 2003 Ben Cahoon (2) SB Montreal Alouettes 2004 Jason Clermont SB BC Lions 2005 Brent Johnson DE BC Lions 2006 Brent Johnson (2) DE BC Lions 2007 Jason Clermont (2) SB BC Lions 2008 Kamau Peterson WR Edmonton Eskimos 2009 Ricky Foley DE BC Lions 2010 Andy Fantuz SB Saskatchewan Roughriders 2011 Jerome Messam RB Edmonton Eskimos 2012 Jon Cornish RB Calgary Stampeders 2013 Jon Cornish (2) RB Calgary Stampeders 2014 Jon Cornish (3) RB Calgary Stampeders 2015 Brad Sinopoli WR Ottawa Redblacks 2016 Jerome Messam (2) RB Calgary Stampeders 2017 Andrew Harris RB Winnipeg Blue Bombers 2018 Brad Sinopoli (2) WR Ottawa Redblacks 2019 Henoc Muamba LB Montreal Alouettes 2020 Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Bo Lokombo LB BC Lions 2022 Nathan Rourke QB BC Lions 2023 Brady Oliveira RB Winnipeg Blue Bombers 2024 Brady Oliveira (2) RB Winnipeg Blue Bombers 2025 Nathan Rourke (2) QB BC Lions
https://www.cfl.ca/page/more_player_awards_ocanada Most Outstanding Canadian
Team achievements Teams represented by Most Outstanding Canadian Award winners through the years.
Club # of winners Most recentOttawa Redblacks/Renegades/Rough Riders 12 2018BC Lions 12 2025Winnipeg Blue Bombers 11 2023Calgary Stampeders 9 2016Hamilton Tiger-Cats 8 1998Edmonton Elks/Eskimos 7 2011Montreal Alouettes/Concordes 6 2019Saskatchewan Roughriders 4 2010Toronto Argonauts 1 1999Total for nine clubs67 Notes:
See also Dr. Beattie Martin Trophy Lew Hayman Trophy
References