2020 Southland Sports Awards to be presented online
The 2020 ILT Southland Sports Awards will be presented online for the first time.
The awards, which were first staged in 1953, are owned by the Southland Amateur Sports Trust (SAST) and presented annually by Sport Southland.
Sport Southland chief executive Brendon McDermott said with uncertainty surrounding events and gatherings in the short term, a joint decision with the SAST had been made to host a virtual event.
“While it’s disappointing that we won’t have the opportunity to join together in the traditional way, it’s really important that we are able to celebrate Southland’s sporting achievements over the past 12 months,” McDermott said.
“It’s no secret that sport has been placed under immense pressure by the Covid-19 pandemic, so we hope that this event will go some way towards providing something positive for the sector to focus on.”
The awards will be presented across a number of online platforms, including websites and social media to ensure as much exposure as possible.
Categories for this year’s awards include the NZME Masters Achievement of the Year, Ricoh Southland Coach of the Year, BDO Administrator of the Year, Southland Kia Team of the Year, Vodafone Junior Sportsperson of the Year, Creation Signs Official of the Year, Southland Times People’s Choice and ILT Senior Sportsperson of the Year.
The Creation Signs Official of the Year category has also been widened to include team support members like medical staff.
“We’ve seen a number of regional sports trusts, regional and national sporting bodies holding their awards online and we’ve been watching those with interest. One of the conversations we’ve been having for the past few years is how do we make the awards more accessible to the community and here is a great opportunity to do that,” McDermott said.
“As we’ve seen across the community, the challenges presented by Covid-19 also give us an opportunity to innovate and we are planning to present an awards which will honour the purpose of these awards, which is to inspire the Southland sporting community, recognise outstanding achievements and promote positive sporting role models.”
The qualification period for these awards runs from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020.
Nominations for this year’s awards open on Wednesday, May 6 and can be accessed through the Sport Southland website or ILT Southland Sports Awards website.
Nominations can be made by national or regional sports organisations, clubs or coaches. Family or self-nominations will also be accepted.
