Sport's 'Night of Nights' to launch in 2017
Published Wed 01 Mar 2017
At last week’s 2016 NSW Sports Awards, the Minister for Sport The Hon. Stuart Ayres MP announced to those in attendance that the NSW Sports Awards and the NSW Hall of Champions, will be combined into one presentation night, with the first to take place late in 2017.
The NSW Sports Awards were presented for the 23rd time last week, and date back to 1994 when squash player Michelle Martin OAM won the first of her two Athlete of the Year titles. The NSW Hall of Champions was established in 1979 to pay tribute to the great athletes of NSW and is housed in the Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre. It now contains almost 350 of the greatest athletes from NSW including those that have been elevated to 'Legend' status such as Sir Donald Bradman AC, Dawn Fraser AO MBE, Margaret Court AO MBE and Louise Sauvage OAM.
The new "Nights of Nights" will be hosted by Sport NSW and will deliver one event in which the champions of today can be recognised on the same night as the champions of yesteryear. Sport NSW CEO Darren Simpson said this was a key consideration in bringing the events together.
"We are delighted that Minister Ayres has brought the two ceremonies together to form what we are sure will become the biggest night on the sporting calendar in NSW. The opportunity for NSW sporting greats from the present and the past to come together is something we know will be very well received," Mr Simpson said.
The process to select the next inductees into the Hall of Champions will soon commence and Sport NSW will also review it's awards program to determine the best model for the NSW Sports Awards moving forward. While a date is yet to be fixed, the ceremony is likely to be held late in November, meaning a slight change to the qualification period for the Sports Awards.
Further details will be released as they are known.
Photo: L-R Darren Simpson, Sport NSW CEO, Alan Whelpton AO, NSW Hall of Champions Chair of the Selection Committee and Minister for Sport The Hon. Stuart Ayres MP at the 2016 NSW Sports Awards.