By Stephan Sookram
Preparations for the National Sport Commission’s Annual Awards Ceremony have begun, the first of the committee meetings concluding last Thursday evening. According to a source within the NSC, the meeting was fruitful with many positive ideas being brought up as it relates to how the body intends to host the ‘new look’ awards.
During an earlier briefing, Director of Sport Christopher Jones had revealed that a ‘grammy’ like ceremony would be the format of the NSC’s premier awards ceremony for 2016
“On the day of the awards, that is essentially when the athletes will know whether or not he or she was successful; they would not get any prior information.”
He noted too that the persons entrusted with selecting these awardees will not be influenced by his office adding, “In order for us to have a pool of people who will be fair and transparent, we will throw it out to the public. We are going to have public advertisements to identify those individuals who will essentially identify sports reps and sports personalities.”
Jones added that even though those selected persons will be in caucus, they will not know the recommendation choice of the other members or the voting choice of any other panellists, allowing for greater transparency.
Guyana and West Indies spin bowler Veerasanmmy Permaul the reigning Sportsman of the Year, while track athlete Cassie George won the Sportswoman of the Year as well as the Junior Sportswoman of the Year awards.
Motor racer Kristian Jeffrey received the runner-up Sportsman of the Year award, while squash player Akeila Wiltshire received the runner-up Junior Sportswoman award.
The runner-up Junior Sportsman award went to Shemron Hetmyre, while track athlete Jason Yaw collected the Junior Sportsman of the Year award.
Multitalented athlete Alisha Fortune won the runner-up Sportswoman of the Year award.
The Guyana Rugby Football Union also cashed in on the Most Improved Association award, the Sports Association of the Year award and the Sports Team of the Year award.
Stabroek News’ Orlando Charles and Emerson Campbell won the best photographer and print journalist awards respectively, while Guyana Television Channel 28’s Avenesh Ramzan won the Best Sports Journalist (non-print), GRFU’s President Peter Green won the Male Sports Personality award and National Rugby coach Theodore Henry won the Sports Coach award.