The awards were not hosted in 2020 due to the pandemic.
GSA will be hosted October 31 at the venue yet to be confirmed.
“We are opening up the nomination process to the people of Gauteng to identify the province’s top sporting top performing athletes which has lived up to our ambition as the ‘Home of Champions’,” says Mbali Hlophe, MEC for sport, arts and culture in Gauteng.
“With many athletes based in Gauteng, the awards make a welcome return as an important feature in the sporting calendar of our province,” she said at the launch recently.
Nominees who make it through into the list of finalists will be announced by the beginning of October.
Among the 19 categories announced include the Personality of The Year, which will be decided by public SMS vote.
The Lifetime Achievement Award will be decided by the MEC.
This year also sees the inclusion of a new ‘Online Category’ for programmes implemented through online platforms as necessitated by the existing Covid-19 environment.
Also up for grabs is the categories for Sport Journalist of the Year and Sport Media of the Year (Community Media), respectively.
The 2020/21 Gauteng Sport Awards seek to recognize and reward excellent work done by the media in profiling and promoting sport.
Community Media of the Year is awarded to the medium (print, radio or television) which is based within a community and has shown passion in terms of covering sport and recreation programmes and activities in that community.
The award is aimed at reinforcing the importance of the Community media’s role in Gauteng’s efforts towards the sport development and to recognise and reward excellent work done across all sports media disciplines over the past year, between 1 August 2020 to 5 September 2021.
The candidates/nominees can be nominated by among others Gauteng Sports Federations, clubs, public and the media houses themselves.
Meanwhile, the Sport Journalist of the Year is awarded to a journalist within print, broadcast, web/online who has shown passion in the coverage of both developmental and professional sport.
The award seeks to reinforce the importance of the media in the country’s sport development and to recognise and reward excellent work across all sporting media disciplines.
Candidates can be nominated by among others Gauteng Sports Federations; Sport Confederations clubs; public, and the media houses themselves.
Importantly, nominations should be accompanied samples of work done including articles or exact dates that the programme was flighted.
Submission should be forwarded on or before the closing date on 17 September 2021 for a chance to make it into the finalists list.
The awards are supported by the provincial Sport Confederation Council.
All Categories:
• Sport Personality of the Year (by SMS public vote)
• Sportsman of the Year
• Sportswoman of the Year
• Sports Team of the Year
• Disabled Sportswoman of the Year
• Disabled Sportsman of the Year
• Disabled Sport Team of the Year
• Coach of the Year
• Most Promising athlete of the Year
• Technical Official of Year
• Sport Federation of the Year
• Administrator of the Year
• Amayanga -yanga athlete of the year
• Sport Fan of the Year
• Community based Sport and Recreation programme of the year
• Online sport or recreation programme implemented (include e-gaming) (new)
• Sport media of the Year (Community media)
• Sports Journalist of the year (This includes print media, radio and television)
• Life Time Achievement Award (will be presented by the MEC).
“The awards look at the performance of athletes in both domestic and international platforms. Despite the general disappointment with the Olympics, we have however seen excellence by others in international stages, including the ongoing Paralympics and the recent World Under 20 athletic Championships.
We have also seen more of this in individual and team sport including in Wheelchair tennis, Cycling, Motorsport, Women’s cricket, and many others in various sport including football,” says the MEC.
Image (MEC for sport in GP Mbali Hlophe says athletes must be rewarded for their work).
