New monthly Sports Award launched
Sports Personality of the Year Awards (Soya) winner Vivian Cheruiyot display's her trophy on January 19, 2017 during the Soya Gala at KICC. PHOTO | CHRIS OMOLLO |
What you need to know:
- Athletes who produce outstanding performance will now be recognized every month under a new award to be known as the Sports Personality of the Year award.
- The winning athletes will be determined by the Sports Journalists Association of Kenya (SJAK), and will be eligible for a Sh100,000 cash prize as well as a 40-inch flat screen TV courtesy of sponsors StarTimes.
- Speaking during the official launch of the award on Monday in Nairobi, SJAK president Chris Mbaisi clarified that the award will be up for athletes of any discipline except football.
Athletes who produce outstanding performance will now be recognized every month under a new award to be known as the Sports Personality of the Year award.
The winning athletes will be determined by the Sports Journalists Association of Kenya (SJAK), and will be eligible for a Sh100,000 cash prize as well as a 40-inch flat screen TV courtesy of sponsors StarTimes.
Speaking during the official launch of the award on Monday in Nairobi, SJAK president Chris Mbaisi clarified that the award will be up for athletes of any discipline except football.
“We already have the Footballer of the Year award, and we felt it was prudent to also acknowledge other sporting disciplines by whipping up the enthusiasm of personalities who perform exemplary well.
“Any athlete who performs well be it in table tennis, athletics or tennis will be eligible for this award and a committee has already been formed within the association to help in the selection of such athletes,” Mbaisi said.
StarTimes Vice President Mark Liboa said that his company is proud to be associated with Kenyan sports personalities who have over the past few decades done the country proud.
“It is a great honour to be a part of this noble initiative, and it is equally humbling to initiate this exercise of rewarding sports excellence in Kenya.
“The corporate sector in Kenya continues to embrace well organized and managed societies and associations, and StarTimes has not been left behind in our quest to make a difference in the communities that we serve,” he said.
This is SJAK’s fourth partner so far, after SportPesa (Footballer of the Month Award), Fidelity Insurance (Coach of the Month Awards).
The Sports Personality of the Month Awards Committee comprises of Brian Yonga (Nation), Eric Ochieng’ (Standard), Daniel Wahome (KBC), Francis Marangu (sportnewsarena.com), Wanjiku Mwenda (K24), Michelle Katami (SuperSport) and William Njuguna (Radio Africa Group).
The committee is expected to announce the award’s first recipient next week.
