Riders at the high-risk Red Bull Rampage will vote for the athlete they feel best embodies McGarry’s spirit this year.
World-class pro-rider McGarry (33) competed in the event seven times.
Held in the desert outside Virgin, Utah, this weekend, it sees riders create and ride "lines" along treacherous narrow sandstone ridges, hitting huge jumps and drops.
McGarry made the event his own in 2013 with an audacious backflip across a 22m canyon. One video of the feat has been viewed more than 31 million times on YouTube.
Red Bull spokeswoman Agathe Armand said: "We will have a tribute video running in the live broadcast and this year we added the Kelly McGarry Spirit Award."
The Queenstown-based rider, originally from Nelson, died in February this year from a cardiac arrest while cycling on Queenstown’s Fernhill loop track.
The winner of the McGarry award will be announced during the awards after the event. Queenstown-based rider Conor Macfarlane (25) is one of the 21 riders competing, in his second year at the event.
The event is broadcast live on Red Bull TV online, free, from 5.30am tomorrow.
