( L - R ) Ricardo Gardner, Oberon Pitterson, Brigitte Foster-Hylton - File photos
FIVE JAMAICAN sporting personalities - footballer Ricardo 'Bibi' Gardner, cricketer Nehemiah Perry, sprint hurdler Brigitte Foster-Hylton, swimmer Janelle Atkinson-Wignall and netballer Oberon Pitterson - have been nominated for the annual Courtney Walsh Award for Excellence.
The award, which comes with a cash grant of $500,000 and a specially-designed crystal trophy, will be presented to the winner at a ceremony next Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.
Prime Minister Bruce Golding will give the main address and make the presentation of the award to the winner.
Selection of awardees
The five nominees were selected from a batch of nominations which was sent to the National Council on Sports and Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education Fund (CHASE), organisers of the awards.
As it relates to the women nominees, Foster-Hylton was a member of Jamaica's successful Beijing 2008 Olympic team, Atkinson is a two-time Olympian while Pitterson is a former captain of the Jamaica netball team.
In the men's section, Gardner was a member of the successful Jamaican team which participated in the 1998 World Cup in France, while Perry, is a former Jamaica and West Indies player, whose most famous moment was a five-wicket haul on debut against Australia.
The first recipient of the award, which was launched in 2005, was cricketer James 'Jimmy' Adams. The second awardee was hurdler and 1996 Olympic gold medallist Deon Hemmings-McCatty, who received it in 2006, and netball champion Elaine Davis was honoured in 2007.
Criteria for selection
The criteria for the award require that persons nominated be between the ages of 18 and 40 and have represented Jamaica at the senior level in the field of sports.
Other criteria for selection are: that nominees are Jamaican nationals; have consistently displayed outstanding ability in sports, have a high level of national pride, dedication, decorum, humility and discipline on and off the field and a high commitment to fairness and integrity.
CHASE was established by the Government in 2002 to manage and disburse monetary contributions from the gaming industry for development in the areas of culture, health, arts, sports and early childhood education.
