It’s been 6 years since the first Special Awards Ceremony honoring my friend and mentor Diane Balkavich. Diane was a pillar in the freestyle and obedience communities and a pioneer in applying then new positive reinforcement techniques to dog sport training. Diane was truly the heart of freestyle, generously sharing her positive reinforcement training skills and helping make freestyle the welcoming, supportive sport that it is today.
When Diane died suddenly in 2018, I became very aware of how little time we have with the people we appreciate and admire. Because of this, I wanted to do something to recognize those who’ve had a positive impact on musical freestyle the way Diane did, while they were still with us. And that is how the Special Awards came to be.
There are 4 Special Awards given annually on February 19, Diane’s birthday. The Heart of Freestyle Award honors Diane. The Poetry in Motion Award honors Cassandra Hartman, and The Storyteller’s Award honors Michele Pouliot. The Trailblazer Award, which was added at the behest of the RFE community, was created in my honor to recognize those who’ve contributed to the growth of freestyle by encouraging continued involvement and enjoyment of the sport.
All three of these amazing women have made a huge impact on me and many others in the sport of freestyle, and it’s my pleasure to introduce you to the 2023 winners of the awards that honor them.
— Julie, Founder of Rally Freestyle Elements
Recognizing those who inspire, encourage, coach and cheer us on in our Rally-FrEe and Musical Freestyle journeys
In 2023, RFE hosted 27 events and skills tests. RFE members hosted another 28 events. In those 55 events, 235 teams earned new titles!
Every host, every team that enters an event, and every active RFE member is crucial to growing and sustaining this organization and we value every one of you!
Amongst those many exhibitors are teams who bravely entered their first events, overcame training challenges, earned their first Qs, and met various personal goals. They all deserve to be celebrated! But here, I’d like to recognize the truly excellent teams who raise the bar for all of us and achieve things most of us only dream of.
Perfect Scores
Cassandra Hartman and her Golden Retriever, Glover earned perfect scores twice!
Claudine Illg with her Australian Shepherd Augie also earned perfect scores twice!
Carrol Haines and her Australian Shepherd, Carlie earned scores of 200 twice!
Deana Allen and her Portuguese Water Dog, Dervish were the only team to earn a perfect score of 100 in Musical Freestyle in 2023!
The Trifecta Award
Teams that have earned Grand Championships in Rally-FrEe, Freestyle and In Sync are awarded the coveted Trifecta Award. Only 6 teams have earned this award in the history of RFE.
Lynn Ungar and her Australian Shepherd, Tesla completed their Trifecta in 2023!
Rally-FrEe Elite Grand Championship
In Rally-FrEe, the Elite division is for those teams that have already earned a championship and continue to compete starting back at the Novice level, and moving through the classes again with higher qualifying scores required to earn each title.
Congratulations to Pam Jones and her Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, Cody for earning their Rally-FrEe Elite Grand Championship!
Now, after much consideration, we are thrilled to announce the recipients of the 2023 Special Awards!
The Story Teller’s Award
Named in honor of Michele Pouliot who is an inspiration to us all with her innovative approach to freestyle and her ability to draw us into the worlds she creates, this award is given to someone who, like Michele, uses patient training, clear communication and positive reinforcement to create beauty and precision in their freestyle routines.
Debbi Decker is the recipient of The Michele Pouliot Storyteller Award
Debbi is a prolific freestyler, trainer and host! She has competed in both RFE Freestyle and In Sync with 8 dogs in both singles and brace. Under her expert tutelage, her students compete at high levels with routines of their own wonderfully told stories! In her tenure with RFE, Debbi has entered 43 events, hosted 14 video events and earned 48 RFE titles! Those are some amazing accomplishments!
But today we celebrate Debbi’s amazing skill at telling stories through her routines. Whether it’s to “Chariots of Fire,” “Black Velvet,” “Stand by Me,” or “Lookin’ out my Backdoor,” her costumes and props are spot on and draw you into her story. Congratulations, Debbi on being awarded the 2023 Storyteller’s award!
The Poetry in Motion Award
Named in honor of Cassandra Hartman who is the perfect storm of polish, poise and precision, this award is given to a freestyler who constantly raises the bar, not only for skill and presentation in freestyle, but for understanding that physical conditioning, respect and both partners having an active role is what creates the most awe-inspiring performances.
Diana Logan is the recipient of The Cassandra Hartman Poetry in Motion Award
Diana Logan is another amazing freestyler whose accomplishments are nothing if not awe inspiring. Since starting with RFE over 10 years ago, Diana has delighted judges and audiences with her dancing Poodles, earning 23 titles in freestyle, In Sync or Rally-FrEe.
But it’s in the last few years that she has really come into her own with how she interprets the music and expresses that interpretation through her movement. Diana’s routines have taken us to Paris, shared a gypsy waltz, and celebrated her country boy. Congratulations, Diana on being awarded the 2023 Poetry in Motion Award.
Take A Bow Award
Members that are considered for our “Take a Bow” awards are those who’ve done just a bit extra to help the organization as a whole or to encourage, or support their fellow RFE members and others in the sports of freestyle and Rally-FrEe.
The 2023 recipients of the Take A Bow Award are:
Evelyne Williams
Judith Stoodley
Kay Boydston
Ruth Lewis
Deana DeWolf
The Trail Blazer Award
The Trail Blazer Award is named in honor of Owner and Creator of Rally Freestyle Elements Julie Flanery. It recognizes a person who has contributed to the growth of freestyle or Rally-FrEe by encouraging participation and mentoring others in their journeys, as well as fostering their skill, continued involvement and enjoyment of
the sport(s).
Liz Chamberlain is the recipient of The Julie Flanery Trail Blazer Award
Promoting new sports, especially ones as complex as Freestyle and Rally-FrEe, is hard. Especially when there are so many sports to choose from. Add to that, a parent organization that’s a world away, and an exchange rate that isn’t in your favor. Then throw in an inconsistent mailing system where more ribbons are lost than delivered, and you the average person might feel a bit disheartened. But not Liz Chamberlain!
Liz has been member of RFE since it’s inception in 2013. In 2015, she hosted her first video event and in 2017 Liz became a Rally-FrEe judge. For over 10 years Liz has been working tirelessly to build Rally-FrEe in South Africa. She’s met each challenge with creativity and an optimism that I marvel at! In 2023 all of Liz’s groundwork seemed to have finally come to fruition. South Africa now boasts 43 members, 7 of which joined in 2023. Liz, RFE thanks you for your determination and tenacity, and mostly your endurance for helping to build RFE. You are a Trailblazer. Congratulations on this award.
And now, the Heart of Freestyle award.
This award honors Diane Balkavich, who was always a staunch advocate for positive reinforcement and relationship-based training. An elite competitor in freestyle, Rally-FrEe and obedience, Diane’s expertise as a trainer earned her many perfect scores. Her dogs were always happy and responsive in the ring. She was one of the best of the best.
The “Heart of Freestyle” is awarded to the freestyler that most portrays Diane’s kindness, compassion, clarity, and courage of conviction in the use of positive reinforcement training and in their relationships to their dogs and their fellow freestylers. The honoree should support and encourage others to maintain positive, compassionate and constructive relationships with their dogs, as well.
Claudine Illg is the recipient of The Diane Balkavich Heart of Freestyle Award
I don’t quite know where to start in introducing you to this year’s recipient. She is one of the kindest, most compassionate and most optimistic people I know. She is generous with her time and expertise, and her energy is that of the energizer bunny! She keeps going and going and going! She has helped our members in too many ways to count. In fact, I’ll bet when you hear her name, you’ll say “Oh ya! She helped me …. Fill in the blank.” She is an integral part of our Facebook community groups and keeps us on our toes with the Watcha Workin’ On Wednesdays and Did you know posts, along with welcoming new members and letting us celebrate with new title earners.
I first met Claudine Illg around 2018. She and her partner, Augie, had already been competing in Rally-FrEe and had already impressed me with accuracy and precision and her attention to detail in the execution of the sign behaviors. She was just starting to delve into the freestyle side of RFE. She was getting concerned that Augie wasn’t enjoying it and was ready to move on. Nevertheless…. You know the rest, she persisted and since she and Augie earned their RF-E/GrCH-MCL and are closing in on their RF Elite GrCH with 5 MCL designations and 4 perfect scores. I’m happy to say they’ve also earned their MF/CH, and Claudine has introduced us to her new little one Amos who’s earning his own RF and MF titles!
Since starting with RFE in 2017, she acquired her KPA trainer certification and has mentored several new members, encouraging them and answering their questions on getting started. She has also helped several not-so-new members with their routines or training struggles. She is an RFE judge, on the board of directors as the Education chair, with some very cool programs in the works, and a previous recipient of this award. Claudine is not just an integral part of RFE, her contributions have helped to grow the sport of freestyle and make it the welcoming, supportive sport that it is today. Congratulations on being awarded the Heart of freestyle award for 2023.
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I am so grateful to all of you, our members, our judges, our volunteers and our board of directors for making RFE the best it can be!
You can watch the complete 2023 Special Awards ceremony online. If you’d like to see performances by some of the 2023 award winners, join the RFE Musical Freestyle Spotlight Group.
