By Francis Ofori /Lawrencia Mensah
Accra, Sept 12, GNA – National Federations (NFs) will nominate athletes to be considered for awards at the 47th edition of the Sports Writers’ Association of Ghana (SWAG) Awards.
Contrary to previous years where members of the Association had the sole prerogative of nominating athletes for awards, this edition would have a combination of NFs and members nominating deserving athletes.
This was contained in a presentation made by the Deputy Secretary General of SWAG, Mr. Thomas Boakye Agyemang at the launch of the awards in Accra.
He explained that a Nomination Committee chaired by Mr. Frank Owusu Ansah, had been setup to receive list of nominees from the federations and members of the association.
He added that the committee would compile the lists received and present it to the Executive Committee.
“The approved list would be submitted to our general assembly for shortlisting and then the assembly would vote on some selected categories.
“After these processes, the final list of award winner would be published before the event.”
Also, mentioned at the launch was the unlike previous five years where the event had been held in December, the 47th edition would be held on January 13 due to the upcoming World Cup in Qatar.
Speaking at the launch, Mr Kwabena Yeboah, president of SWAG who said the main aim of the association was to motivate and appreciate the efforts of sports men and women to do more as it would go a long way to motivate others to also give off their best.
Mr Yeboah said the association would want to continue this scheme in the upcoming years with the support of various sponsors who would come on board
“For the past five editions, SWAG has done well to hold the ceremony in December, but this year the event would be shifted to January, to make room for the 2022 World Cup which Ghana has qualified to participate in Qatar,” he added.
The President hinted on the fact that the association would soon announce a partnership with Adamus Mining Resources, one of the leading mining companies in Ghana as co headline sponsors of the awards.
He further stated that this years event would reward 25 different individuals as well as the Vice President’s special award for the Sports Journalist of the year.
He finally urged various stakeholders to come on board to sponsor SWAG to honour these individuals and also commended MTN Ghana for being supportive for the past 12 years.
Madam Georgina Fiagbenu, Senior Manager Corporate Communications at MTN Ghana who urged SWAG of MTN’s continuous support to honour sports heroes and heroines in the country.
She commended SWAG for their hard work in sustaining the awards scheme for a period of over 46 years as the longest awards event Ghana has ever had.
She finally urged various individuals and stakeholders to join hands with SWAG to appreciate the events of sportsmen and women in the country.
Mr. Charles Osei Asibey, General Secretary of SWAG said “we as an association is committed to reward various individuals who are doing massively well in the sports fraternity, therefore we need stakeholders to come onboard to support us in appreciating them”.
GNA