Kottayam: The selection process for the Malayala Manorama Sports Awards 2019 has resumed after several months of disruption due to COVID-19.
With a total prize money of Rs 12 lakh, the award, instituted by Malayala Manorama in association with Santa Monica Holidays, is the largest monetary sports prize in Kerala.
While the Manorama Sports Star 2019 will identify and honor the achievements of individuals, the Manorama Sports Club 2019 will acknowledge the efforts of clubs and academies that unearth latent talents and hone their skills at grassroots levels and help them grow into world beaters.
The winners in both categories will be announced by the end of February.
The six final contenders for the Manorama Sports Star 2019 Award, picked by an expert panel comprising Olympian T C Yohannan, writer and sports analyst N S Madhavan, and former cricketer and coach P Balachandran, are: V K Vismaya (athletics), Nihal Sarin (chess), Chitharesh Natesan (bodybuilding), Sanju V Samson (cricket), Anish P Rajan (disability cricket), and Ashique Kuruniyan (football).
The SMS and online voting were done in two phases. After a detailed assessment of their past records and contributions to their chosen fields during 2019, the expert committee will select three winners in the category. The decision of the selection committee will be final.
The sportsperson with the maximum number of votes will receive the Manorama Sports Star 2019 award and a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh. The second and third prize winners will be awarded trophies and a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh respectively.
Badminton star H S Prannoy and Asian Games gold medallist Jinson Johnson were the winners of the Manorama Sports Star award for 2017 and 2018 respectively.
The expert panel appointed by Malayala Manorama to pick six clubs/academies as the winners of the first phase comprises former Indian footballer and acclaimed coach C C Jacob, former Kerala Santosh Trophy team captain Asif Saheer, and Dr Jimmy Joseph, head of the Department of Physical Education at Assumption College, Changanacherry.
The panel has visited each of the shortlisted clubs and evaluated their performance. The six finalists in the category are: Kovalam FC, Thiruvananthapuram; Dolphin Club, Thiruvananthapuram; FF Academy, Ernakulam; Chess Association of Marottichal, Thrissur; Pattern Sports and Arts Society, Kozhikode; and Kadathanad Raja Football Academy, Kozhikode. The three finalists will be announced shortly.
The first-prize winner will receive the Manorama Sports Club 2019 award and a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh. The second and third place winners will be awarded trophies and a purse of Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh respectively.
The winners of the Manorama Sports Club awards in the previous years were Volley Friends Sports Centre Payambra, Kozhikode (2017), and Olympic Athletic Club, Palakkad (2018).
