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Nominations open for annual Walsh Award

Published:Thursday | September 8, 2016 | 12:00 AMDania Bogle
Gladstone Taylor
From left: Nicole McLaren-Campbell (CHASE board member), Merle Donaldson (CHASE director), Mike Fennell (Jamaica Olympic Association) and Billy Heaven (chief executive officer, CHASE Fund) admire the Courtney Walsh Award for Excellence Trophy at yesterday's press launch to open nominations for the 12th annual Courtney Walsh Award for Excellence held at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston.

NOMINATIONS opened yesterday for the annual Courtney Walsh Award for Excellence in sports at a launch held at The Knutsford Court Hotel with the awards ceremony set for Thursday, October 13 at The Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston.

Submission of nominations will close on September 21, leaving a two-week window for sporting interests to nominate their candidates, as Billy Heaven, chief executive officer of the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports, Education Fund (CHASE), - the body which administers the award - noted that "when the time period is shorter, we get a better response".

The award, now in its 12th year, is named after the former Jamaica and West Indies fast bowler.

CHASE said the objective of the award is "to recognise the achievements of a sports person who displays a high level of humility, integrity, discipline and other exemplary qualities, while excelling in the field of sports".

The winner will receive a cash prize of $500,000 as well as the Courtney Walsh Award for Excellence Trophy.

 

Former

 

Past winners of the award include track and field athletes Novlene Williams-Mills, Michael Frater, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Dr Neil Gardener, Aleen Bailey, Brigitte Foster-Hylton, and Deon Hemmings-McCatty; cricketers Jimmy Adams, Wavell Hinds, and Nehemiah Perry, and netballer Elaine Davis.

There are also two awards for student athletes, and Heaven said that in the past deserving students had received the prize.

"Jamaica's future is in good hands, and this year, we don't expect that to be any different," he added.

The award is open to Jamaican nationals who have represented the country at the senior level in a sport recognised by the Jamaica Olympic Association.

The nominees must also have consistently displayed outstanding ability in sports, as well as a high level of integrity, national pride, dedication, decorum, humility, and discipline on and off the field.

The person must also have a track record of community service.

The selection committee for the award includes head of the JOA Mike Fennell, Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association president, Dr Walton Small, former national cricketer Mark Neita, and sports journalist H.G. Helps.