By Neto Baptiste
Efforts will be made to ensure that prize monies owed to winners of the National Sports Awards are paid in a timely manner.
This is according to chair of the organizing committee for the annual event, Cleofoster Harris, who admitted that the wait time for athletes to collect their winnings following the staging of the awards must be addressed after 2024 winners were made to wait eight months before receiving the cheques from government.
“That’s something we’re going to champion for the next awards and once the winners have been announced on the night, the administrative team within the Ministry of Sports will go back and do their work, prepare the vouchers, get the vouchers out and through the process and that will take a little while.
Then, they are submitted down to the treasury for disbursement,” he said.
Minister of Sports, Hon. Daryll Matthew, posted photos on his official Facebook page on November 25, of the official handing over of cheques to winners of the 2024 awards held in March of 2025, some eight months after the staging of the event.
Winners of the senior men’s and women’s awards are presented with EC$10,000.00 each while winners of the mind sports categories are awarded EC$5000.00.
Winners of the junior awards were given EC$4500.00 each while they were also offered scholarships to the University of the West Indies (UWI), Five Islands.
Harris said he will also open dialog with the relevant authorities regarding a possible increase in the prize monies.
“I would have to ask the director because I still work along with the Director of Sports, Heather Samuel-Daley, to check on the allocation from the budget that we have.
It’s something we can probably look at and say that in the next budget cycle maybe we can up the ante but it is not something we can just do but it’s a conversation we can have.
The Director of Sports can then say there is a case for it and we can put another $5000.00 on it or whatever the monetary increase shall be,” the organizing committee head said.
West Indies cricketer Alzarri Joseph and IFBB Pro fitness athlete, Kimberly Percival, were crowned men’s and women’s winners for 2024 at the awards held in March.
The Junior Sportswoman of the Year Award went to young track athlete, Tyra Fenton while cricketer, Jewel Andrew expectedly won the Junior Sportsman of the Year award.
Swimming’s Nelson Molino Fojo was Coach of the Year; football’s Ken Pennyfeather was Official of the Year; Bernard Willock of Warri won the Mind Sports Award; and the Antigua and Barbuda Cricket Association won the Association of the Year Award.
