Continuing the trend of equalizing all awards for men and women, two new categories will be awarded at this year's Big Wave Awards: Biggest Paddle Wave and Biggest Wave, the WSL has just announced.

Along with the existing best female performance, three of the eight categories will now be contested by women:

The wave of the year
The biggest wave in ladies
The biggest wave surfed by a woman on a paddle board
The biggest wave paddled by one man
The biggest wave surfed by a man
Best female performance
Best male performance 
The hit of the year

They announced that the nominees for each category will be announced in April.

The WSL also announced that the event will be held for the first time as part of a major music festival called the BeachLife Festival, which runs from the 3rd to the 5th, and on the evening of the 2nd, all ticket holders will be able to enter to see the awards. Those who don't will have to pay $20.