Thirty-three finalists were named yesterday for the prestigious 2024 SP Sports Awards (SPSA). They were selected from 223 candidates nominated for the awards.
The finalists were selected in each of the following 11 categories:
Male athlete of the year, female athlete of the year, team of the year, National Performance of the year, Community Sports Initiative, Junior Male athlete of the year, Junior Female Athlete of the year, Para-Athlete of the year, Sports Official of the year, Sports Media of the year and Sports Photo of the year.
Chairman of the SP Sports Awards selection panel, Warwick Vele said it was pleasing to see a significant jump in the number and quality of nominations, with a good mix of online and paper-based nominations.
Vele highlighted the areas he would want to see improvement in nominations and encouraged the Sports Federations to support their athletes.
“There were a couple of categories where we would have liked to see more nominations, especially with our junior athletes, so would like to encourage federations to continue highlighting their juniors coming through.”
Amongst other categories, Vele added, he was delighted seeing nominations, from the ‘Community Sports Awards’. He encouraged more nominations in this category in the coming SP Sports Awards as he recognizes the achievement of Para-Athletes in the regional events.
“We took great delight in seeing what’s happening in our communities around the country and giving opportunities for recognition to those participants and programs that don’t always get the high level of exposure that our more recognized sports do.
“The achievements of our para-athletes were of a very high standard, competing in regional and global meets and this is a great platform to acknowledge their achievements and successes.”
Meanwhile, the announcement of the finalists also marked the opening of the voting for the People’s Choice category of the People’s Choice Award.
The winner of the People’s Choice Award will be selected through a public vote, using FM100’s voting platform. The more votes a finalist gets, the more chances of them winning.
Candidates for this category come from four finalists of the following: Male Athlete of the Year Female Athlete of the Year Team of the Year National Performance of the Year. Voting for the People’s Choice Award category will close on 19th May 2024.
The Presentation Night will be held at the home of the SP Sports Awards, Crown Hotel on Saturday 01st June 2024.