When the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing was held this winter on Oahu’s North Shore, for the first time in its more than 36 years there were no heats in the water and no spectators on the beaches at the event’s three contest sites: the powerful breaks of Haleiwa, Banzai Pipeline and Sunset Beach.

Instead, the three-part series made history as an all-digital competition in which contestants uploaded videos of two waves they’d ridden in individual, free surf sessions at each site from Dec. 21 through Jan. 15.

On Wednesday, Hawaii’s John John Florence and Carissa Moore were proclaimed winners of the men’s and women’s divisions, the latter restored to the Triple Crown after an absence of 10 years.

Florence, who won all three events, and Moore, who won the Haleiwa event, received the highest overall scores for their waves at all three venues, awarded by a panel of three World Surf League judges. Criteria applied to the more than 100 surfers who participated in the open competition included self-expression, innovation and progression as well as surfing that made use of the unique qualities of each wave.

In a press release from Vans, contestants said they enjoyed the free surf format, in which they could surf by, for and against themselves rather against others, with none of the usual time constraints and strategic jockeying for position or priority that are the norm in traditional two-to-six surfer contest heats.

“This was one of my favorite formats to surf in competition,” said two-time world champion Florence, who claimed his fourth Vans Triple Crown championship title and his first Pipe Masters championship this season. “It allowed for so much more freedom, and you’re really going for broke on every single wave — it pushed the level of surfing a lot.”

“Being a Hawaiian surfer, especially a female Hawaiian surfer, it’s always been a dream of mine to compete in the Vans Triple Crown,” said four-time and current world champion Moore, who placed second in the Maui Women’s Pro when it finished at Pipeline in December.

“It’s a coveted title to showcase your skill on some of the most powerful waves in all of the world, especially in our backyard,” she added.

Chasing Moore, two other young women made giant career steps: North Shore native Moana Jones Wong won the first women’s Triple Crown event to be held at Pipeline in more than a decade, and Australian Bronte Macaulay exhibited some cliff-hanging acrobats in massive waves to win the Sunset World Cup.

In the fan voting categories, Australia’s Jack Robinson emerged as the men’s winner and Kauai native Tatiana Weston-Webb was the winning women’s favorite.

The awards show ceremony Wednesday night, where $200,000 in prizes were awarded, can be viewed at vanstriplecrownofsurfing.com.