Leading sprinters Emanuel Archibald and Jasmine Abrams won the respective Senior Sportsman and Sportswoman-of-the-Year for 2023 accolades when the National Sports Commission (NSC) awards were hosted at Castellani House on Thursday evening.
Archibald’s highlight in 2023 was becoming the first Guyanese athlete to secure a gold medal in the 100m event at the Central American and Caribbean Games in El Salvador. Later, he won bronze at the Pan American Games in Chile.
Fellow Track compatriot Jasmine Abrams won silver in the 100m at the aforementioned Pan-Am Games, one of the standout performances of the 2023 season.
France-based Guyanese powerlifter Dominic Tyrell was the runner-up in the male category, while female chess champion Jessica Callendar was the runner-up in the female category.
On the junior side, the phenomenal sprinter Tianna Springer won the Junior Sportswoman-of-the-Year award after a blistering year. She won gold in the 400M at the CARIFTA Games, South America U-20, and Commonwealth Youth Games.
To little surprise, impressive swimmer Raekwon Noel was the Junior Sportsman-of-the-Year, winning an unprecedented five gold medals at the CARIFTA Aquatics Championships. Some of those gold medal performances also shattered records.
The officials and athletes of the Athletics Association of Guyana won most of the awards, a testament to their outstanding 2023 season.
ENet, Guyana’s industry-defining telecommunications provider, was voted the lead corporate sponsor (large) in the corporate awards, while MVP Sports (medium) and Trophy Stall (small) received other sponsor awards.
Additionally, News Room’s Sports Editor, Avenash Ramzan, won the Award for Best Broadcast Journalist, while Editor Akeem Greene got the award for Best Non-Print Journalist.
Jemima Holmes of Times Media Group won the award for Print.
List of Awardees:
Senior Sportsman-of-the-Year: Emanuel Archibald (Athletics)
Runner-up: Dominic Tyrell (Powerlifting)
Senior Sportswoman-of-the-Year: Jasmine Abrams (Athletics)
Runner-up: Jessica Callender (Chess)
Junior Sportsman-of-the-Year: Raekwon Noel (Swimming)
Runner-up: Malachi Austin (Athletics)
Junior Sportswoman-of-the-Year: Tianna Springer (Athletics)
Runner-up: Kataleya Sam (Chess)
Sportsman (PWD): Uttamkumar Isurdeen (Athletics)
Sportswoman (PWD): Anya Lall (Chess)
Male Coach-of-the-Year: Mark Scott (Athletics)
Female Coach-of-the-Year: Tremayne Smartt (Cricket)
Team-of-the-Year: Youth Commonwealth 4x400m Mixed Relay Team (Athletics).
Association-of-the-Year: Athletics Association of Guyana
Male Sport Official-of-the-Year: Reon King (cricket)
Female Sport Official-of-the-Year: Kenisha Headley (Athletics)
Sport Journalist (Print): Jemima Holmes (Guyana Times)
Sport Journalist (Broadcast): Avenash Ramzan (News Room)
Sport Journalist (Non-Print): Akeem Greene (News Room)
Corporate Sponsor (Small): Trophy Stall
Corporate Sponsor (Medium): MVP Sports
Corporate Sponsor (Large): ENet
Posthumous Award: Terence Poole, M.S.
Special Award for Service in Sport Journalism (over 25 years) – Claude David (Kaieteur News), Donald Duff (Stabroek News), and Leon Horatio (Guyana Chronicle)