Nominations for 2011 Shetland Sports Awards announced
Island Games medallists Andrea Strachan, Amy Harper and Emma Leask will vie for the title of Sportsperson of the Year in the 2011 Shetland Sports Awards organised by Shetland Recreational Trust, The Shetland Times and Active Shetland.
Andrea, who won an unprecedented four golds in the Isle of Wight this summer, Amy, who won five medals including one gold, and Emma, who won gold in the 800m, secured the most nominations from the Shetland public.
The winner will be announced at the awards dinner on Friday 18th November which this year has attracted Stewart Harris, chief executive of sportscotland, as guest speaker and will feature a performance from visiting Ukrainian Olympic gymnasts Iryna Krasnianska and Dariya Zgoba. Tickets for the popular event, which will take place in the Clickimin bowls hall, are available from the leisure complex on (01595) 741000.
The three people in the Young Sportsperson of the Year category are swimmer Felix Gifford, transplant games medallist Zoe Buchanan and sprinter Haydn Thomason.
In for Coach of the Year are netball coaches Kirsti Leask and Vicki Henderson (joint nomination), swimming coach Petur Petursson and rugby coach Bryan Leask.
Team of the Year will be a contest between the Shetland Swim Team from the Island Games, the Whalsay hockey team and the Junior Inter-county team.
And finally the Shetland under-18 football squad, the AHS netball team and the Shetland gymastics team secured the most nominations in the Young Team of the Year category.
For the second year, a lifetime achievement award will be made in memory of the late Rob Anderson with the winner announced on the evening.
Tam Rowley
How can the junior inter-county team be nominated for the team of the year ?, they must surely be in the young team of the year category. Who picks these nominations ?.
Paul Riddell
Tam, it is entirely done on public votes, with the pubilc choosing the categories as well.
Cheers
Paul
Karen Mackay
I believe what Tam is trying to say, is that, senior teams are potentially disadvantaged from being recognised for their efforts throughout the year as junior teams seem to be able to be nominated in either of the two team of the year categories. There is not a ‘Senior Team of The Year’ category so therefore senior teams can only be voted for once in the ‘Team of the Year’ section and can be up against a junior team who can also be voted for as ‘Junior Team of the Year’. Maybe next year the categories could be more specific? Otherwise what is the point of having the ‘Junior Team of the Year’ category if they can be recognised in two categories?