A German documentary that exposed widespread doping in Russian athletics was among the headline wins at the first Sport Media Pearl Awards, held in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday evening.
Hajo Seppelt’s documentary “Doping – Top Secret: The shadowy world of athletics”, which has since had widespread ramifications for the sport, won the Best Video documentary, as well as a special award for Investigative Reporting.
Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, Minister of Culture, Youth, and Community Development, Chinese basketball legend Yao Ming, Italian world cup winner Alessandro del Piero and the UAE’s own Omar Abdulrahman were among the special guests who handed out the awards during a glittering ceremony.
The National’s Paul Radley won the evening’s showpiece award, “Sport for a better world” for his heartening and bracing feature on a non-profit organisation in Ho Chi Minh city that helps Vietnamese street children through taekwondo.
The Christina Noble Children’s Foundation, the subject of the winning piece, received US$50,000 (Dh183,645).
READ ALSO: From Irish orphanage to saving lives in Vietnam: The inspirational Christina Noble
“The situation [of doping in athletics] is not worse than 20 years ago, but we are talking about it more now,” Seppelt said on receiving his awards. “Some say what we’re doing is not good. The IAAF is still very reluctant to understand the problem from my point of view.”
Seppelt’s was an emotional acceptance speech, in which he thanked his mother, who passed away while he was working on the documentary.
The most rousing acceptance speech of the evening, as well as the most popular, was the first. Fiifi Anaman won the Best Column award for a scathing but heartfelt piece on the Ghana football team and the controversy surrounding their appearance fees at the 2014 World Cup.
Anaman is a student and only 21 and could barely control his emotions as he came on stage. “A couple of months ago I had never even travelled outside Ghana and now here I am,” he said. “I’m only 21 but this shows no matter who you are, where you are, you can make it.”
Other notable winners included Jimmy Magee, the veteran broadcaster, who won the lifetime achievement award “Life in Sport”. Magee has covered the Olympics since 1968 and the football World Cup since 1966.
“I remember as a little boy listening to an All-Irish football final commentary that was being played in New York in 1947,” he said. “That is when I started wanting to do this and I’ve been doing it since. All you have to do is make up your mind.”
The awards, managed by the International Sports Press Association (AIPS) and hosted by Abu Dhabi Media (publishers of The National), are the first of their kind for sports journalists.
The 12 winners across nine different categories represented a distinctly global outlook, incorporating a wide spectrum of journalistic voices, and across a considerable breadth of sports.
As well as Anaman’s column on Ghana, Mihir Vasavda won the Best Colour piece award for an evocative feature on the travails of three footballing minnows through a World Cup qualifying campaign.
A radio piece on the great Rocky Marciano, for Italian radio, won the best audio award, while a German blog about an American 11-year-old who wants to climb Mount Everest next year was also a winner.
Writing (Best column) – "How the Black Stars stabbed the nation in cold blood" by Fiifi Anaman (allsports.com.gh)
Ghana’s 2014 World Cup was overshadowed by a controversy over appearance fees. This heartfelt, scathing column condemned the national team’s posturing at the tournament.
Writing (Best colour piece) – "Being poor in the richest sport" by Mihir Vasavda (Indian Express)
The glamour, the sparkle and the big money; what would football look like without it all? A little like these evocative tales of the struggle of smaller nations such as Yemen, Bhutan and Guam to play World Cup qualifiers.
Photography (Athletic Prowess) – "Women more than shadows" by Ricardo Erick Lopez Hevia
An image that represents a vibrant moment of sporting excellence between two women and their shadows
Photography (Emotion) – "I just won" by Robbert Wijtman
Special Olympian Judoka just realises she has won. This athlete has just won a hard fought semifinal battle with a nice throw, earning an ippon, or one total point. With two other wins already, she knows she is in the medal round, and with one more, she could win the Gold.
Audio – "Rocky Marciano" by Dario Ricci (Radio24)
A look back at the magnificent career of Rocky Marciano, 60 years after his last fight, a victory against Archie Moore that gave him 49 wins out of 49. It is also about the story that connects Italy and America, a story of emigration, fear, hope and boxing.
Journalistic weblog – "Too young for danger of death" by Nestler Stefan (dw.com)
The charming story of an 11-year-old American boy who is planning to climb Mt Everest in the spring of 2016. It would make him the youngest person to scale the world’s highest peak.
Video (Documentary) – "Doping – Top Secret: The shadowy world of athletics" by Hajo Seppelt (ARD)
The documentary that could change the game as far as athletics is concerned. This is the second part of a ground-breaking investigation that revealed the existence of systemic doping in some countries with rich athletic traditions.
Video (Action sequence) – "Nina leaves with a smile" by Zhu He (China Central Television)
Nina Li, a freestyle skiing athlete, on her leaving the sport following the Sochi WIinter Olympic Games.
Sport for a better world – "Street kids find haven in sport" by Paul Radley (The National)
A combat sport trying to change the world? Deep in Ho Chi Minh city this bracing, heartening report finds the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation, a non-profit organisation which uses taekwondo to keep street children safe.
A life in sport – Jimmy Magee
Investigative Reporting – "Doping – Top Secret: The shadowy world of athletics" by Hajo Seppelt (ARD)
Best app – L'Equipe
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