The Sports Journalists’ Association has agreed a two-year partnership with Laureus, the international sport for good foundation, which promises to see some of the world’s biggest sporting names among the headline guests at regular press lunches in 2013 and 2014.
The agreement renews a relationship which has flourished during 2012, and will see Laureus back a new internet sports journalism award next March, details of which will be announced shortly.
“Laureus are tremendous partners to work with, and we are delighted to have teamed up with them for the next two years,” Barry Newcombe, the SJA chairman, said in making the announcement.
The SJA, founded in 1948, has nearly 1,000 members drawn from the country’s leading sports writers from national and local newspapers, magazines and websites, as well as editing staff, television and radio broadcasters and photographers. It is the world’s largest national organisation for sports journalism, working on press box facilities, accreditation matters and other media concerns.
Next week, on December 6, the SJA is staging its annual British Sports Awards at the Tower of London. The SJA British Sports Awards is the longest established sporting awards event in the UK, at which the Sportsman, Sportswoman, Team prizes are awarded, chosen by a ballot of the SJA membership.
Over the course of the year, the SJA also holds a series of media sports lunches with prestigious sporting figures. In the past year, the SJA’s lunch guests have included Hugh Robertson, the minister for sport, former Ryder Cup captain Bernard Gallacher, and two Laureus ambassadors, record-breaking Paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson and Edwin Moses, the all-time great American Olympic champion.
“Our lunches have a terrific reputation for delivering serious back-page headlines,” said Newcombe, the veteran rugby and tennis writer, “and with the help of Laureus and members of their Academy, we look forward to enhancing and extending that reputation.
“Laureus conducts a range of very important charity projects around the country and across the world, and through the SJA/Laureus Sports Lunches, we hope to be able to raise the profile of this work, also,” Newcombe said.
Laureus World Sports Academy Chairman Edwin Moses said: “The British media have been excellent over the years in their interest and their support for the work of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation and I am delighted that we are able to continue with our partnership.
“As a charity that has helped to improve the lives of more than one-and-a-half million young people since we opened our doors in 2000, the media plays a crucial role in letting the public know about what we are doing and helps us to spread the message that sport can change people’s lives.”
UPCOMING SJA EVENTS
Thu Dec 6: 2012 SJA British Sports Awards. An Olympic year extravaganza at the Tower of London. Click here for more details, news of members’ discounts and a booking form.
2013
Mon Mar 11: SJA British Sports Journalism Awards at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London. Entry forms will be available early in December.