By Neto Baptiste
Head of the judging panel for the recently held National Sports Awards, Agatha Dublin, believes the body made the best possible decisions based on the information placed before them.
The body adjudged sprinter Cejhae Greene and high jumper Priscilla Frederick winners of the senior men’s and women’s categories while junior track and field athletes Ajarni Daley and Joella Lloyd were the junior male and female winners.
Dublin spoke directly to suggestions that national and West Indies cricketer, Rahkeem Cornwall, should have been given the nod, ahead of Greene, for the male award.
“Unfortunately, impact is not a criteria and I empathise with those persons who have those thoughts. This was not an easy decision for us; we agonised over this decision and especially in this category because we are well aware of the calendar of events in each discipline and we are also aware of the achievements of each of these nominees. However, when you compare one versus the other and their catalogue of achievements, we had no other choice,” she said.
Dublin, who is in her third year as head of the judges panel, explained the criteria used in reaching the final decision.
“We look at your catalogue of competitions and the levels of your competitions, so we would start around mid to three-quarter ways up. We did it [points] from between one and 10 and when you participate at an international event, we’d probably start somewhere between 6.5 to seven because in some instances you have to qualify to be at that level and then when you get there, your performance is what we have to start looking at,” she said.
“Based on your performance, the points would start going up where if you set records, if you won competitions or participated in winning competitions — are things that would take your points up,” the chief judge added.
Further defending the panel’s decisions, Dublin said the current criteria would put some disciplines and or athletes in a better position to win the coveted prizes.
“I would say the catalogue of performances and the consistency in those performances. We had a number of our nominees who participated in international events, who did very well at those events but I think it came down to the consistency in performances at that level,” she said.
The winners were announced during Saturday night’s hosting of the Vita Malt sponsored ceremony held at the Casa Palmadita Restaurant.