KwaZulu-Natal is only days away from hosting the coveted 2018 KZN Sport Awards at a glittering awards ceremony to be hosted by the Department of Sport and Recreation in partnership with the KZN Sports Confederation.

The sixth KZN Sport Awards which is expected to attract 800 guests will honour sports heroes and heroines at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre (Durban ICC) on Tuesday, 25 September at 18h30.

The Awards seek to recognize and reward the exceptional performances and accomplishments of athletes, administrators, coaches, teams and sports media personnel from KZN, on and off the field.                               

Top achievers in the province’s sporting landscape for the period 1 August 2017 to 31 July 2018 will be acknowledged. The fate of approximately 80 nominees to be shortlisted across 24 categories of awards lies in the hands of an independent and esteemed panel of judges comprising sports writers, administrators and representatives of recognized sports bodies.

The nomination process begins with Sport Federations, Recreation Bodies and media houses submitting names of nominees for consideration. Thereafter, a shortlist is finalized by the panel of judges before eventually selecting deserving winners in each category.

The public is encouraged to vote for their favourite sports personalities through an SMS vote line in the Sports Personality of the Year category. SMS KZNSPORT2018 followed by the initials of your favourite sports star to 33285. Voting lines are now open. 

MEC for Arts, Culture, Sport and Recreation, Bongi Sithole-Moloi, said: "We are extremely excited to host the 2018 KZN Sport Awards to recognize our sport practitioners who have excelled in their different fields.

Over the past year, our athletes have given us world-class performances that continue to cement KwaZulu-Natal’s claim to be a province that produces winners in all sporting codes. Their performances have confirmed the Department of Sport and Recreation’s vision of enabling ‘an active and winning province through sport and recreation.”

“The panel of judges, which is made up of experts in the sports arena, is hard at work to finalise the nomination process and they will objectively select the overall winners in the more than 20 categories. The sports-loving public will have an opportunity to vote for the Sport Personality of the Year category from the list of 12 sports stars shortlisted by the judges.”

Winners of the different categories will be submitted for nomination in the national South African Sport Awards next month.

Sport Personality of the Year category

SMS vote line for public voting: SMS KZNSPORT2018 followed by the athlete’s corresponding initials to 33285. 

The 2018 KZN Sport Award categories are:

1. Administrator of the Year
2. Junior Sportswoman of the Year
3. Junior Sportsman of the Year
4. Sportswoman of the Year
5. Sportswoman of the Year with a Disability
6. Sportsman of the Year
7. Sportsman of the Year with a Disability
8. Team of the Year
9. Indigenous Games Team of the Year
10. New Comer of the Year
11. Coach of the Year
12. Recreation body of the Year
13. Federation of the Year
14. Photographer of the Year
15. Journalist of the Year
16. School Team of the Year
17. Developing School Team of the Year
18. Volunteer of the Year
19. Sports Personality of the Year
20. Technical Official of the Year
21.  

MEC’s Special Awards:

21. Lifetime Achiever Award x 1
22. Against All Odds Award x 1
23. Honour: White / Black Blazer x 1
24. Posthumous Outstanding Performance in his lifetime x 1
25.  

For more information contact Mthobisi Makhathini, Media Liaison Officer for MEC, 071 360 9017.

Issued by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Sport and Recreation

Thabo Mofokeng - 082 731 7456 or email thabo.mofokeng@kzndsr.gov.za;  

Bheki Ncube - 082 575 4164 or email bheki.ncube@kzndsr.gov.za;