Some of the nominees for the 2026 awards did not meet basic criteria.
Sprint sensation Leendert Koekemoer was not even considered as a nominee for Junior Sport Star of the Year. Picture: Steph Chambers/WA/Getty Images
The concept of the SA Sport Awards is great. The application is not.
Despite being criticised repeatedly in the past for questionable decisions around nominees and award winners, not enough has been done by the event founders – the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, and the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee – to correct the flaws in the process.
Let’s forget the fact that the awards ceremony held on Sunday recognised athletes for their performances in 2025 and should have been held six months ago.
And let’s be fair by noting that selecting award winners at ceremonies like this is always going to be a subjective process, even with an adjudication panel packed with experts. Human beings have differing opinions, and comparing athletes across a range of sports can be difficult.
But when you’re giving accolades to athletes who shouldn’t have been nominated, that’s a problem.
Nominees don’t meet criteria
In the Junior Sport Star of the Year category, the criteria states that nominees must be under the age of 18.
Not one of the three nominees in this category for the latest edition of the awards met that basic criteria. In 2025, sprinter Bayanda Walaza turned 19, boxer Siseko Teyisi turned 21, and middle-distance runner Prudence Sekgodiso turned 23.
Walaza, who won, did at least compete in the Under-20 (junior) category in athletics last year, but Sekgodiso’s nomination in particular was bizarre.
Having won the world indoor 800m title in 2025, the Sportswoman of the Year award Sekgodiso received at the weekend was arguably well deserved, but she hasn’t met the age limit criteria to be nominated for Junior Sport Star of the Year since 2019.
How on earth did this slip through the cracks with nobody picking it up?
Problems with the process
There are a long list of rising young stars who could have been nominated.
As an example, sprinter Leendert Koekemoer, who did meet the U-18 age limit, formed part of the national senior 4x400m relay teams that won gold at the World Athletics Relays and secured bronze at the World Athletics Championships, and he broke the long-standing national junior 400m record, but representatives of the SA Sport Awards have confirmed he wasn’t even considered as a nominee.
If they didn’t receive enough junior nominations to select worthy nominees, then there’s a real problem with the entire process. And if they snubbed any legitimate nominees for people who didn’t qualify, that’s even worse.
Recognising our nation’s top performers is an excellent idea, but when the people behind the SA Sport Awards make weird decisions (and can’t even stick to their own rules) it loses all credibility.
