Malawi National Council of Sports will for the first time hold the sixth Malawi Sport Awards at Sunbird Nkopola Mangochi on February 28 next year.
During a press briefing held on Thursday in Blantyre, Malawi National Council of Sports board member, who is also chairperson of the marketing and research committee Gladson Kuyeli said there are also a number of changes aimed at improving the selection of winners.
Since the awards were launched in 2017, the annual awards were being conducted at the Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe.
“The changes signify diversity in the awards. This is an improved version that matches with the glitz and glamour of the awards,” he said.
Other significant changes in the awards include the addition of the best sports journalists of the year category and the involvement of the public in the awardees’ selection process.
“We have replaced the Media House of the Year category with the Sports Journalist of the Year because we would like to appreciate the individual effort of the journalists in sports reporting,” said Kuyeli.
Sports Council’s marketing, planning and infrastructure development director Limbani Matola said nominations for the awards, which will have 14 categories, have opened and will close on December 20.
“The nomination stage will see sports associations and journalists under the Sports Writers Association coming up with possible candidates for each category,” he said.
“Then a panel of judges will trim the list of nominees to three in each category and check eligibility before giving it out to the public to vote for their favourite candidates between January 10 and February 20. Finally, the judges will marry the scores to identify the eventual winners.”
The list of awardees include the best junior female sportsperson, best junior male sports male, best sports woman, best sportsman, best sports woman with disability, best sports man with disability, best executed sports development programme, coach of the year, best sports administrator, sportsperson of the year, best print sport journalist and best electronic sports journalist.
During the last edition, United States of America (USA)-based Malawi National Women’s Football Team striker Temwa Chawinga won the sports personality of the year accolade.
Another board member Hellene Mpinganjira-Tasosa also attended the briefing.
Winners of national awards qualify for the Regional Five Awards.
