The Brecon & Radnor Express is proud to open the nominations round for its second Sports Awards after the success of last year’s inaugural event.
Accordingly, the newspaper is inviting people to send in their nominations for the 2018/19 awards. As last year there are seven categories to vote for. These are: Sportsman of the Year, Sportswoman of the Year, Sports volunteer of the Year, Sports Team of the Year, Young Sports Star (male or female), Veteran Sports Star (male or female), Disabled Sports Star (male or female) and Sports Volunteer.
Every week until Thursday, December 20 we will be printing a nominations form in the paper for readers to send in their nominations for the people and teams they think deserve recognition.
Readers will have until Friday, December 21 to send in their nominations. The forms should be sent by post to The Brecon & Radnor Express, 11 The Bulwark, Brecon LD3 7AE or delivered by hand. This year we are also offering the option of forms being delivered by hand to KDM Local newsagent in Station Crescent, Llandrindod Wells. This is to make sure that sports stars in Radnorshire have an equal chance of being nominated for an award as those in Breconshire.
Each nomination should include the reasons why you think your choice of sportsperson or team deserves to be nominated. Each nomination must be accompanied by an actual nomination form from the paper (photocopies will not be accepted) although nomination reasons may extend to a separate sheet of paper. This can be a few words, a single line or a paragraph of up to 200 words. A full list of the nominees along with the best nomination reasons will be printed in the paper in our Thursday, December 27 edition.
A new form will be printed in the paper on that date on which readers can vote for their choice of winner in each category. This form will be reprinted in the paper in our Thursday, January 3 edition and the winners will be announced at our annual awards evening early in the new year.
The venue for these awards has yet to be finalised but details will be published in the Brecon & Radnor Express as soon as the arrangements are settled.
Last year’s awards ceremony was eventually held at the Wellington Hotel in Brecon on Friday, March 23. The event had originally been scheduled for Friday, March 9 but the deep snowdrifts blown in by the Beast from the East meant the event had to be postponed to a fortnight later.
The decision was taken over fears for the safety of people travelling in from the more distant parts of Brecon and Radnorshire. with snow and ice on the roads it was the correct, and only, decision that could be taken.
The awards when they did go ahead were judged a huge success. The upstairs dining room at the Wellington was packed with sports stars and their friends and families as well as staff from the Brecon and Radnor Express. More than 100 people filled the room to overflowing with professional emcee Mark Weller overseeing proceedings.
Welsh Government minister Kirsty Williams kindly agreed to present the awards and overall star of the night was Brecon’s 2016 Rio paralympic champion Rob Davies, who not only gave a very moving speech about his career as the evening’s VIP guest but also carried away two of the awards – Sportsman of the Year and Disabled Sports Star.
After a brilliant year of sport, this year’s awards again look like being hotly contested in every category. Here’s a brief rundown of the categories in which we are seeking nominees.
Sportsman of the Year: This category is open to any man of any age in any sport provided they are from Brecon and Radnorshire or has competed in a team that plays in a league in the area. Last year’s winner was disabled tennis player Rob Davies, who as one of our leading sportspeople is bound to be in contention once again.
This year he could see strong opposition from Brecon’s Steve Sebburn, not only in the Sportsman of the Year category but also in Disabled Sportsperson of the Year category. Only last month, Steve came home from the Invictus Games laden with one gold medal and two bronze’s from the Invictus Games in Sydney. Another contender could well be cycling ace Tim Davies, from Cross Gates, who this year repeated his win in the National MTB veteran championships from 2017.
Sportswoman of the Year: The category for the top sportswoman looks like being every bit as competitive as the men’s category. The eligibility criteria are the same as for the men except the winner obviously has to be a woman.
Last year’s winner was the former World No.1 judoka Natalie Powell. This year she is bound to be a contender again along with other leading candidates from last year such as Brecon motor rallying ace Sara Williams and rejuvenated runner Heidi Davies.
Sports Team of the Year: This is another very difficult category to call as it covers so many sports, across both sexes and all age bands. Last year’s winners were the brilliant Brecon RFC Youth team who carried all before them winning three trophies. Who will win it this year?
Young Sports Star (male or female): This category is open to anyone of any gender in any sport aged 20 or under.
Last year’s winner was then 10-year-old martial arts star Ellie Cain from Brecon. She narrowly beat off strong opposition from Brecon RFC rugby star DanHiscock and Llandrovery rugby ace Tomi Lewis. As all three are young enough to be eligible again this year, we could see an equally competitive shakedown for that award.
Veteran Sports Star (male or female): Any woman who is aged over 35 and any man who is over 40 can be nominated for this category.
Leading contenders include the aforementioned Tim Davies and Peter Owens who has visited 17 countries during his career as cricketer with Brecon and Wales and recently returned from Portugal after touring their with the Wales over 70s side. Last year’s winner was cricketer/footballer Dylan McPhee whose feat of scoring two double centuries in the same season captured the imagination of the B&R readers.
Disabled Sports Star (male or female): As already mentioned last year’s winner Rob Davies and Invictus Games hero Steve Sebburn are both strong contenders. They will face opposition from Alexandra McLellan, from Hay-on-Wye, who returned from the Invictus Games with a silver medal and Builth Wells bowler Pauline Wilson.
Sports Volunteer of the Year: This category celebrates anyone who helps out in the background in sport, usually not participating themselves.
Often an unsung hero, they could be a club coach or manager, an administrator/official or simply the person who drives the team bus.
Last year’s winner was Terry Dickson from Brecon who was nominated by his wife and won for the coaching work he does with youngsters in cricket, athletics and rugby.