By Neto Baptiste
The process of deciding who will be the senior and junior sports personalities of the year for 2023 is well on its way ahead of this year’s National Sports Awards scheduled for March 2.
The head of the judges’ panel, Agatha Dublin, said judges are first given time to assess the submissions individually before several meetings are held to discuss and make final decisions as a group.
“I would normally allow 14 days and a minimum of 10 days for each judge to review each nominee’s submission individually, and then we get together and we submit our assessment and we discuss and, based on our discussions, you may have some alterations here or there, but we want to ensure that the final decision is something that we’re comfortable with and that we try to ensure that the most deserving person emerge as the awardee,” she said.
Nominations for next month’s awards closed at the end of November last year with 14 of 20 associations/federations meeting the deadline. However, subsequent meetings with a number of delinquent associations saw the number increase to 17.
Asked what happens when more than one nominee in the same category ends with the same amount of points, Dublin said this is where the quality of the submissions by each association comes in.
“This is where the details of the submission forms play a significant role. You’d have a submission form that says this person went out and they won an event at x, y, z place and you may have three persons [forms] that say the same thing.
“However, what we have to go back and look at are what contributions has this person made or what was their progression like during the year, or what have they done in the advancement of the sport? These things add up when it comes to a tie or when you have any discrepancies,” the chief judge said.
Bikini Fitness Pro athlete Kimberly Percival and West Indies cricketer Alzarri Joseph were named Sportswoman and Sportsman of the Year for 2022, while swimmers Ethan Stubbs-Green and Ellie Shaw were the junior male and female awardees.
The National Sports Awards is slated for March 2 at the St John’s Pentecostal House of Restoration Ministries located on Lauchland Benjamin Drive.