NEWPORT BEACH, CA (APRIL 2, 2010) - The finalists for the 2010 Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards presented by Monster Energy were announced today in the wake of one of the greatest years in surfing history. Following 12 months of enormous swell events from South Africa to Hawaii to Australia to California to Mexico to Tahiti and beyond, over 1000 entered images have been distilled down to this year's elite nominations. Video and still images of all the top rides are now available for viewing on the updated event website at BillabongXXL.com.

The winners will be announced on Friday, April 23, 2010 at the tenth-annual invitation-only awards gala at the Grove Theater in Anaheim, California in front of 2,250 surf world VIPs. The entire night's festivities will be webcast live on the event website and will also be the focus of a one-hour television special airing on the ESPN networks starting on the evening of May 18.

The top prize in this Oscars of surfing the Billabong XXL Ride of the Year Award carries a $50,000 prize for the surfer with the single most amazing performance on a big wave captured on video. This year features an array of epic rides and an overriding theme as four out of five nominations went to paddle-in waves, reflecting the top surfers insistence on returning to their roots and depending less on jet powered watercraft (tow-in) assists.

Two of the entries took place at Maverick's in Northern California on a record-breaking swell in February with South African Grant Baker and Hawaiian Shane Dorian demonstrating two different ways to score perfect rides. Another pair of nominations came from the legendary Waimea Bay on the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii during an equally fabled swell last December. Ramon Navarro of Chile deservedly received a nomination for his huge backside slide during the Quiksilver Eddie Aikau contest, a feat which earned a perfect score in that event. Also being recognized from that swell is the first dual surfer nomination for a single ride in XXL history the iconic Waimea closeout set caught and ridden by Hawaiian watermen Mark Healey and Shane Dorian. The remaining Ride of the Year nomination was grabbed by Raimana Van Bastolaer, who precisely used a watercraft assist in the final days of the annual event period to penetrate deep inside the frothy interior of a turbulent tube at his local break of Teahupoo, Tahiti.

The 2010 Billabong XXL Biggest Wave Award category features the first entries in half a decade from one of the most famous big wave venues of all, Jaws (a.k.a. Pe'ahi) on the North Shore of Maui. After many seasons of sub-par swell and weather, the El Nino winter of 09/10 saw the break come back to XXL prominence in a very big way all five rides nominated in the Biggest Wave division were ridden at that break over the course of three huge swells in December and January. A trio of the surfers are past XXL nominees (Ross Clarke-Jones of Australia, Danilo Couto of Brazil and Ian Walsh of Maui) and one is a past winner, 2003 XXL champion Makua Rothman of Sunset Beach, Hawaii. All were caught with the assistance of a watercraft. One of the five XXL Biggest Wave nominees will receive $15,000, a Honda Aquatrax watercraft and a HSA rescue sled in honor of their accomplishment.

In all, over $130,000 in cash and prizes will be awarded to the world's greatest big wave surfers in this edition of the Billabong XXL Awards presented by Monster Energy.

The nominees for 2010, in alphabetical order:

FIVE BILLABONG XXL RIDE OF THE YEAR AWARD NOMINEES
(Surfer prize $50,000 Video prize $5,000)
- Grant Baker (Durban, South Africa) at Maverick's, California on February 13, 2010.
- Shane Dorian (Kona, Hawaii, USA) at Maverick's, California on February 13, 2010.
- Mark Healey & Shane Dorian (Sunset Beach & Kona, Hawaii, USA) at Waimea Bay, Hawaii on December 7, 2009.
- Ramon Navarro (Pichilemu, Chile) at Waimea Bay, Hawaii on December 8, 2009.
- Raimana Van Bastolaer (Tahiti, French Polynesia) at Teahupoo, Tahiti on March 17, 2010

FIVE BILLABONG XXL BIGGEST WAVE AWARD NOMINEES
(Surfer prize $15,000 and a Honda Aquatrax watercraft with HSA sled Photo/video prize $4,000)
- Ross Clarke-Jones (Torquay, Vic., Australia) at Jaws, Maui, Hawaii on December 25, 2009.
- Danilo Couto (Bahia, Brazil) at Jaws, Maui, Hawaii on December 25, 2009.
- Makua Rothman (Sunset Beach, Hawaii, USA) at Jaws, Maui, Hawaii on January 11, 2010.
- Sebastian Steudtner (Nuremberg, Germany) at Jaws, Maui, Hawaii on December 7, 2009.
- Ian Walsh (Kuau, Hawaii, USA) at Jaws, Maui, Hawaii on January 11, 2010.

FIVE MONSTER PADDLE AWARD NOMINEES
(Surfer prize $15,000 Photo/video prize $4,000)
- Grant Baker (Durban, South Africa) at Maverick's, California on February 13, 2010.
- Shawn Dollar (Santa Cruz, California, USA) at Maverick's, California on February 13. 2010.
- Mark Healey & Shane Dorian (Sunset Beach & Kona, Hawaii, USA) at Waimea Bay, Hawaii on December 7, 2009.
- Alex Martins (San Francisco, California, USA) at Maverick's, California on February 13, 2010.
- Ramon Navarro (Pichilemu, Chile) at Waimea Bay on December 8, 2009.

FIVE MONSTER TUBE PHOTO AWARD NOMINEES
(Surfer prize $5,000 Still Photography prize $2,000)
- Grant Baker (Durban, South Africa) at Maverick's, California on February 13, 2010.
- Manoa Drollet (Tahiti, French Polynesia) at Teahupoo, Tahiti on March 17, 2010.
- Rusty Long (San Clemente, California, USA) at Maverick's, California on February 13, 2010.
- Mark Mathews (Maroubra, NSW, Australia) at The Right, Western Australia on June 15, 2009.
- Raimana Van Bastolaer (Tahiti, French Polynesia) at Teahupoo, Tahiti on March 17, 2010.