A Winnipeg student at Acadia Junior High has won $500 for her role in promoting women and girls in sport. 

In late October, Fit Communications opened applications for their Inspiration Award 2018 Grant, which was open to women and girls of all ages who work hard to be healthy, positive and a good role model. 

After the submissions, the list was narrowed down to five finalists, who then went through a voting process to determine a winner. 

That winner ended up being Anne Adewumi, a multi-sport junior high school athlete who aspires to compete for a Division 1 NCAA school in basketball and eventually move on to play for the Canadian National team and in the Women's National Basketball Association.  

"The issue with girls in sport in Canada right now is that girls are six times more likely to drop out of sports than boys are and a lot of the time we're not focusing on the girls who are already there," Fit Communications co-founder Andrea Katz said. "We received such a positive set of stories and feedback from girls and women and it made us really excited to be involved in getting girls more involved in sports in Manitoba and across Canada." 

"Anne is one of the first people who applied and she's a really well-rounded athlete and student," Katz continued. "She gets it and understands that you can learn so much from a coach and teammates and you can apply those skills to life. She's a really good player and she knows she has younger girls looking up to her and really aspires to be a role model for those girls in basketball and her community." 

Fit Communications says in a release that Anne will be using the money to help pay for her club fees for the Junior Bison Basketball program and for two different training camps in 2019. 

"I dreamt one night, made a specific goal and that's what I live off every time I step on the court," Anne said in a release. "I want to be a role model to girls all over the world because every female should be able to know, feel and understand the empowerment and strength that comes with being healthy, fit and athletic." 

She already joined the Center of Performance through Basketball Manitoba and was selected to play for Team Manitoba's U-15 team. 

Katz says they received 38 submissions, which is almost double what they were expecting. She says the youngest girl who applied was only seven-years-old and the oldest woman who applied at 62, which she says goes to show how important this is to female athletes of all ages and skill levels.