Australian golfer Adam Scott and world surfing champion Mick Fanning have been nominated for prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.

Scott was on Wednesday announced as one of six contenders vying for Breakthrough of the Year honours, after he ended Australia’s 77-year US Masters hoodoo with victory at Augusta last April.

But he faces some stiff competition for the accolade, with Spanish motorcycling sensation Marc Marquez and fellow golfer Justin Rose of the UK also nominated in the category by a panel of sports media representatives.

The Afghanistan cricket team, German pole vault champion Raphael Holzdeppe and Tour de France rookie Nairo Quintana of Colombia are the other contenders.

Meanwhile Fanning’s third world surfing title, clinched at the final event of the 2013 tour, earned him a nod in the Action Sportsperson of the Year, alongside fellow surfers Maya Gabeira and John John Florence, US snowboarding star Shaun White, Brazilian skateboarder Bob Burnquist and British BMX rider Jamie Bestwick.

Marquez, recently crowned the youngest ever MotoGP champion, is also in contention for the biggest prize, the 2014 World Sportsman of the Year.

The 21-year-old is up against three-time Laureus winner Usain Bolt, four-time Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel, NBA star LeBron James, British athlete Mo Farah, world No.1 tennis player Rafael Nadal, and goal-scoring machine Cristiano Ronaldo.

Three-time Sportswoman of the Year recipient Serena Williams has once again been nominated in the female category, joining Brisbane Roar and W-League star Nadine Angerer, swimmer Missy Franklin, Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Russian athlete Yelena Isinbayeva and skier Tina Maze of Slovenia.

“I have never seen such a potentially close contest in so many categories before. This is going to be a classic year,” Laureus World Sports Academy chairman Edwin Moses said.

The winners, chosen by the Academy’s jury of 46 sporting greats, will be announced at a ceremony in Kualar Lumpur on March 26.