First Citizens Sports Foundation Awards 2022
First Citizens Sports Foundation on the cusp of marquee 60th edition of Awards
On Sunday March 26, 2023 the First Citizens Sports Foundation will celebrate a remarkable milestone – sixty years of honouring the sporting heroes of Trinidad and Tobago. With cyclist Roger Gibbon earning the first ever title in 1962, the Foundation has gone on to make a mammoth contribution to sport in its sixty years, moving from honouring just a Sportsman of the Year, to recognizing both male and female athletes in senior and youth categories, and instituting a Hall of Fame to memorialize the work of veteran sportsmen and women.
The Foundation is now eager to add to its long list of honourees by naming the 2022 Senior and Youth Sportsmen and Sportswomen of the Year and inducting a new batch of recipients into its Hall of Fame, when it hosts the premier of the First Citizens Sports Awards and Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Sunday 26 at Movie Towne, Port of Spain.
Over sixty youth and senior sporting personalities have been nominated by their various National Sporting Organizations as potential recipients of the prestigious awards themed “Passing the Baton.” The event will recognize those who continue to pave the way for a great sporting future by “passing the baton” from one generation to the next, including ten inductees into the Hall of Fame, who have built lasting legacies across various sporting disciplines.
Elaborating on the theme, Chairman of the First Citizens Sports Foundation, Dr. Terry Ali said “The past has laid the foundation stones for the future of sporting achievements and has set the stage for many of our athletes to mount the podium. We have moved forward with significant contributions from the Ministry of Sport, the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee, The University of the West Indies, the University of Trinidad and Tobago, the various sporting associations, clubs, and the many sponsors who have taken an interest in the development of sport. What remains now is succession planning, to ensure continuous growth and development”
The Foundation will therefore celebrate the collective contribution of its various partners, including the foresight of the awards’ founders, the West Indian Tobacco Company Limited, from which First Citizens overtook responsibility for the awards in 2004.
The First Citizens Sports Foundation looks forward to continuing to recognize and promote a culture of excellence in sports at all levels of society, by advocating for the needs of athletes, coaches and sport administrators, providing training opportunities in areas such as sports administration efficiency, sports psychology, media relations, and safeguarding awareness, offering support for sporting events and sporting clubs and making financial contributions to the development of our national athletes.
Members of the national community can join in celebrating the achievements of our national athletes by viewing the broadcast of the Sports Awards ceremony on Sunday March 26th at 8 p.m. on CNC3.
Awards Criteria
Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year
This award is bestowed upon an outstanding male and female athlete who has contributed to the development and recognition of sport, not only in Trinidad and Tobago, but also at an international level.
Successful athletes in this category must:
- Be a national of Trinidad and Tobago
- Have been outstanding in their sport at local, regional or international level.
- Have exceptional performances at national competitions that can be considered outstanding among other national athletes.
- Produce results that are easily verifiable.
- Have attained these achievements between January to December of the year under review.
- Youth nominees must turn 19 after the 31st December of the year under review.
The Jeffrey Stollmeyer Memorial Award
This award is given to a National Governing Sports Body, which has displayed initiatives and made significant improvements, not only in its administration, but also towards the development of its athletes.
The sporting body must have met the following criteria:
- It must have shown an acceptable degree of efficiency and effectiveness.
- It must demonstrate a strong sustainable development program.
- It must have a measurable level of growth within the sport over the period.
- It must demonstrate sound financial accountability.
- The measurables of the sporting body must be achieved between January to December of the year under review.
- It must be compliant in the areas of child protection and anti-doping.
Lystra D. Lewis Memorial Award
Named after a national sporting icon who achieved international recognition for her administrative competence and promotion of netball beyond national and regional boundaries.
- This award is presented to the most outstanding Trinidad and Tobago team for the year under review.
