Pitch Awards voting process to accommodate more sports journalists – Organisers
Pitch Awards voting process to accommodate more sports journalists – Organisers
President of the Nigeria Pitch Awards, Shina Philips, says more journalists will be accommodated in the 2025 selection/voting process for its prestigious awards.
Philips communicated this on Monday in Abuja at a news conference while recounting the achievements recorded by the awards in the past 10 years.
The Nigeria Pitch Awards are awards presented to Nigerian former and present sports people, administrators and journalists in recognition of their positive contributions to sports in Nigeria.
“From inception, our intention was to create an award platform that has a unique character of its own; a character moulded by our core values of transparency, credibility and integrity.’’
According to Philips, the college of voters made up of only sports writers will be expanded to accommodate an additional 50 knowledgeable, experienced and professional sports writers.
He said the expansion was in line with its desire to create a sustainable platform that would be bequeathed to the next generation of sports men and women.
“This is why the award process was designed to transcend organisers personal influence and to squarely put the responsibility of deciding winners in the hands of professional journalists with years of experience.
“We are sure that our college of voters will always make the best possible decisions in the interest of our football; and that is why today, we celebrate and applaud the media for the role they have so far played.
“In the same vein, our independent vote collation body SIAO is a vastly experienced and professional player in Nigeria’s accounting and auditing sector.
“Each member of the college of voters receives a soft copy of the voter form and a detailed and comprehensive set of award criteria to guide their decisions.
“The award categories reflect a broad spectrum of football activities both on-the pitch and off-the pitch,” Philips added.
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Nelson Olafisoye, Chief Operating Officer, Nigeria Pitch Awards, said the media category was the most competitive among the 17 categories of awards.
Olafisoye noted that the breakdown of the awards in the media category usually won with a slim margin unlike other categories where winners won with over 100 points.
He urged the media to continue to do their best in exposing the country’s sports and football in particular to the world, so as to make it attractive to sponsors.
President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Ibrahim Gusau, said the football house had great confidence in the awards because of the way it had been conducted in the last 10 years.
Gusau, who was represented by Ademola Olajire, the NFF Director of Communication, said that the Pitch Awards was designed to reward and inspire players, coaches, referees, journalists and football administrators who were good in what they do.
He commended the organisers of the awards for bringing their activity to Abuja to bond with the sports writers in the Federal Capital Territory.
In his response, Kelechi Onwudiwe, Chairman, Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), FCT Chapter, commended the organisers of the award for inspiring those who earn their living through football.
Onwudiwe urged them to put in more effort to make the award a global brand. (NAN)
