Eighty-five entries from sports journalists across the world were nominated for the inaugural Sport Media Pearl Awards. The nominations were unveiled in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, as well as the identity of an 11-member jury.
Launched in March in Paris this year, the awards are the first internationally to be dedicated solely to recognizing outstanding sports journalism across the world.
They are managed by the International Sports Press Association (AIPS) and hosted by Abu Dhabi Media, publishers of The National.
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– Dinner in honour of those working for the Sport Media Pearl Awards
The AIPS executive committee received over 700 submissions from across the world, across nine different categories in writing, photography and video.
Two entries from The National are in the running for prizes. Paul Radley's feature on how taekwondo is helping Vietnamese street children is one of ten nominations up for the prestigious "Sport for a better world" category.
Marwan Al Hammadi is also a nominee in the Audio category, as producer of a podcast with Steve Luckings and Jonathan Turner on the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight.
“This is a very proud moment for us as Abu Dhabi takes centre stage in an international award that recognises the important role played by journalists in the world of sport and encourages the development of excellence in the sport media field,” said H.E. Mohammed Ebraheem Al Mahmood, Chairman and Managing Director of Abu Dhabi Media.
“As a leading media organisation, we have a duty to foster talent by acknowledging those industry practitioners and enthusiasts across the globe whose reporting keeps the public engaged with sport.”
The 11-member jury, made up of leading sport media professionals from around the world, will now begin the process of whittling down the nominations to the top three finalists in each category.
Those three will be invited to Abu Dhabi for the awards ceremony, to be held on December 15.
The jury will be headed by Gianni Merlo, president of the AIPS. “The Sport Media Pearl Awards play a very important role for the journalists’ profession that has recently faced difficult times,” Merlo said.
“This event is an opportunity to show that journalism is still alive and still fighting for its principles. In the awarded pieces, as well as in all submitted works, we can rediscover the pleasure of sport as an instrument of global culture.”
The jury includes the Chinese basketball legend Yao Ming and Donna de Varona, a double Olympic gold-medalist swimmer and award-winning sports journalist.
For details of the awards and how to register, go to http://sportmediapearlawards.com
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