Sports Minister Warns Associations: No More Late Submissions

Minister of Sports, Daryll Matthew, has sent a stern warning to sporting associations that they will no longer be allowed to retard the timely hosting of the National Sports Awards.
His caution follows the ministry’s announcement that this year’s awards will be held on July 5 following two previous postponements.
According to Matthew, some associations tend to procrastinate where timely submissions of their nominees are concerned which, often times, lead to the award being delayed.
“I am not minded to keep extending deadlines to associations that do not submit nominations because at the end of the day, it is not the associations that get the beating when this ceremony [is delayed], it is the ministry so we would just have to institutionalise the date. We may say the 31st December every year is the cut-off date for national sports awards [nominations] and the ceremony is going to be held in January of every year or whatever that date is that we have,” he said.
Added to the planned cut-off date for submission of nominations, Matthew said the date for the national sports awards will also be institutionalised.
“We have already taken a decision to institutionalise the date and we are looking at exactly what date it will be so we may say something like the last Sunday in January every year [not the actual date] but you get the point. It’s just so we have a particular date institutionalised that this is the date that the national sports awards will be annually,” the minister said.
The awards, originally slated for March, had been postponed to June following the announcement of the 2018 General Elections before being pushed to its latest date of July 5.
The event is slated for the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground.
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 awards were 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.