The crew were awarded last year's prize having won the 2017 European and World Championship titles.

Their team of Johannes Weissenfeld, Felix Wimberger, Maximilian Planer, Torben Johannesen, Jakob Schneider, Malte Jakschik, Richard Schmidt, Hannes Ocik and coxswain Martin Sauer repeated the feat this season.

Gold at the European Championships in Glasgow was followed by a successful title defence at the World Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Australia's men's four crew of Joshua Hicks, Spencer Turrin, Jack Hargreaves and Alexander Hill could prevent them from scooping the award again after they were nominated following World Championship gold.

Germany's lightweight men's single sculls world champion Jason Osborne and Ireland's gold medal winning lightweight doubles sculls team of Gary and Paul O'Donovan complete the shortlist.

Ireland are also represented for the women's prize, with Sanita Puspure one of three candidates put forward.

She beat last year's award winner and defending champion Jeannine Gmelin of Switzerland in the women's singles sculls in Bulgaria.

Canada's women's pair crew of Caileigh Filmer and Hillary Janssens have been nominated with Poland's quadruple sculls team also in contention.

It followed both crews securing world titles.

France's PR2 women's single sculls athlete Perle Bouge and The Netherlands' PR2 mixed double sculls team of Annika van der Meer and Corne de Koning are among the nominees for the Para-rowing crew of the year.

Britain's PR3 mixed coxed four team of Ellen Buttrick, Grace Clough, Oliver Stanhope, Daniel Brown and coxswain Erin Wysocki-Jones are the final nominees for the award.

Four candidates are in contention for the coach of the year prize, including Uwe Bender, who has guided Germany's men’s eight crew to multiple successes.

Dominic Casey, who coaches Ireland's men's pair, lightweight men's, women’s double sculls and lightweight men's quadruple sculls teams, has also been nominated.

The Netherlands' Para-rowing team coach Jan Klerks and the United States' Laurel Korholz, who coaches their women's four and single sculls crews, complete the shortlist.

A sustainability award will also be handed out for the first time, with the honour seeking to acknowledge those who endeavour to safeguard the environment in which rowing takes place.

Britain's National Schools Regatta is nominated for their "Pushing for a Clean Sweep" initiative, while Rowing New Zealand are in contention for their partnership with Waikato Water Authority.

A "Love Where you Row" initiative from Alan Robinson and the Schuylkill Navy in the United States completes the nominees.

World Rowing state the public nominations process saw more than 1,000 submissions for the awards.

The nominations then went to World Rowing's expert nominations and individual judging panels before the finalists were decided by the governing body's Executive Committee.

The winners will be announced on November 23 at the World Rowing Awards dinner in Berlin, Germany.

This will be held during the 2018 World Rowing Sports Medicine, Science and Coaches Conference, and the 2018 National Federations Conference.