November’s Awesome Ottawa award goes to Alisa McClain and Pinball Women Ottawa to support the Women’s Provincial Pinball Championship.

“On January 21,” says Alisa, “we will host the 3rd ever Women’s Provincial Pinball Championship – right here in Ottawa.”

“Pinball Women Ottawa has been building community and connection for over ten years,” she continues. “A decade ago, if you had gone to a mainstream pinball tournament you would have been surprised to see a woman or gender diverse player there, and now we are typically nearly 50% of the players because of the community building of the women’s league.”

“I am incredibly proud of how we have changed the local pinball scene,” says Alisa. “And due to our amazing community building and regular tournaments, our local competitors will make up a good number of the 16 invited finalists that compete in the Provincial Championship.”

“Hosting this tournament for the first time in Ottawa represents a huge accomplishment in our community building efforts.”

Alisa is a social worker by day, and describes herself as focused on building and maintaining a trauma-informed community space for weirdos and non-conformers.