Seattle Storm guard Sue Bird was named Female Sports Star of the Year by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Jan. 27 at the paper’s 68th annual banquet honoring local sports heroes. Bird defeated UW goalie Hope Solo for the award, and other nominees were Husky shortstop Jamie Clark and rower Anna Micklesen. Bird was chosen on the strength of a rookie season that saw her average 14.4 points and 6.0 assists while leading the Storm to the WNBA playoffs for the first time.

Bird, who is currently playing in a winter league in Connecticut, was unable to attend the ceremony but left a taped message saying, “I definitely want to thank you guys for this award, it's a great honor.” Storm forward Kate Starbird accepted the award on Bird’s behalf, and praised her teammate. “She's an amazing basketball player,” Starbird said. “Her leadership skills and her basketball skills are incredible. She's only going to improve from here. This was her first season this year, and she just did incredible things in the WNBA.”