Sports awards pushed to June, minister confirms

The Vita Malt sponsored National Sports Awards is now scheduled for June of this year.
This is according to Minister of Sports Daryll Matthew who was at the time unable to give an exact date but highlighted the pressing need to host the annual award event celebrating the achievements of the country’s athletes.
“Primarily, because May has turned out to be a very busy month both for me in terms of travel and the sponsors, and so we are looking at some time in June. I can’t find the exact date but it is something that has to happen and has to happen quickly. One of the things we are looking to do is to institutionalise the date so we can put out, very publicly, once its finalised, exactly what the day is, for example, the first Sunday in February every year will be national sports awards, or something like that,” he said. 
The awards, originally scheduled for March, was postponed following the announcement of the general elections.
Reports had also indicated that a number of national associations were yet to make submissions in the various categories, including sportsman and woman of the year, an issue that has plagued the awards for many years.
Matthew assured that going forward, mechanisms will be put in place to rectify this issue.
“That’s a part of the reason why we are looking to really formally institutionalise the date, but if we say the first Sunday in February of every year is the national sports awards and the deadline for submissions is December 15th the previous year, then come December 15th if you don’t have your submission then we just have to move on,” he said.
“I am not one of those persons who likes to push back a date to accommodate more people or say let’s start the show late because enough people are not here, you just have to be hard and fast with dates and times because it affects everything down the line,” the minister added.
West Indies, national and All Saints fast bowler, Alzarri Joseph and bodybuilding’s Kimberly Ephraim were crowned senior Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year for 2016 when the award event was held in July of last year.
In the junior category, tennis’ Aron Fields won the judges’ nod while young and upcoming sprinting sensation, Joella Lloyd was adjudged the top female junior.
The sport of swimming also came in for some recognition from the judges with coach Nelson Molina Fojo and administrator Edith Clashing being named Coach and Official of the Year respectively for 2016.
Dominoes’ Seymone Parks was named the Mind Sports Sportsperson of the Year with basketball’s Carlton Broodie receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award.