The trophy was first awarded at the conclusion of the 2017
NCAA football season to honor the top Canadian player in American
college football, where it was presented to Ohio Bobcats quarterback
Nathan Rourke from
Oakville, Ontario. The award is named after
Jon Cornish, a former running back at the
University of Kansas who would later play for the
Calgary Stampeders of the
Canadian Football League, where he would win three Most Outstanding Canadian awards as well as the
CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award and Lou Marsh Trophy (now the
Northern Star Award) in 2013 before being inducted into the
Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2019. Rourke would win the award again the following season before Oklahoma State running back and
Sherwood Park native
Chuba Hubbard was named the winner for the 2019–20 season. Alabama wide receiver and
Brampton local
John Metchie III won the award for the 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons. Illinois running back and
London, Ontario, native
Chase Brown won the award in 2022 after leading all
Power Five teams in rushing. In 2023, honours went to
Stanford wide receiver
Elic Ayomanor, a
Medicine Hat, Alberta native who amassed over 1,000 yards receiving, including a
school-record 294 yards against
Colorado. The 2024 winner was
Kurtis Rourke, a graduate student quarterback from Oakville, Ontario who led the
Indiana Hoosiers to an 11–2 record, their best season since 1946. Kurtis is the younger brother of Nathan, who won the first two awards. 2025's honoree was running back
Antwan Raymond, a
Montreal native who rushed for 1,241 yards and 13 touchdowns for
Rutgers, including a game against
Maryland where he tied the school record for carries in a game with 41. The patrons of the trophy are the
Northern 8 group led by businessman L. David Dube and Football Canada president
Jim Mullin. It is awarded by a panel consisting of Canadian journalists,
Canadian Football League player personnel evaluators, former NCAA players with a connection to Canada, and panelists from
Gridiron Nation. The primary trophy, featuring an image of Cornish superimposed on a background that incorporates a maple leaf and a five-pointed star, is kept on permanent display at the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. The recipient is presented with a separate personalized trophy featuring an image from the player's trophy-winning season. The base of the trophy is engraved with the surnames of Canadian-born and/or -raised players who were successful in American college football, including among others
Bronko Nagurski,
Mark Rypien, and
Tim Biakabutuka. This trophy originally featured the logo of
Football Canada, the country's governing body for amateur
Canadian football, but that logo has been replaced by a dedicated Cornish Trophy logo. == Winners ==