The Most Outstanding Player Award is annually awarded to the best player in the Canadian Football League. The two nominees for the award are the Terry Evanshen Trophy winner from the East Division, and the Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy winner from the West Division. The winner of the award is chosen by the Football Reporters of Canada.[1]
The award was created in 1953 as the Schenley Award, named after Schenley Distillers Corporation, to honour the most outstanding player in Canadian Rugby Union, one of the forerunner leagues of the CFL; Schenley ended its sponsorship of the awards in 1988, and the awards have been unsponsored since.[1] Broadcasters Ernie Calcutt, John Badham and Pierre Dufault were regular presenters of the Schenley Award.[2][3][4]
Note: Prior to 1973 the runner up for this award was not the Jeff Russel Memorial TrophyorJeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy winners. Finalists were first announced in 1953 and during the first years there were multiple runners-up.