Nestle to award Sports Journalist

Accra, Sept 7, GNA - Nestle Ghana Limited, producers of Milo energy drink would from next year institute an annual award scheme for sports journalists to inspire them in their information dissemination process. Mr Colin Taylor, Marketing Manager of Nestle said this when the company presented a cheque of 30 million cedis to the Sports Writers Association of Ghana towards this year's organisation of the SWAG Awards Night.

He said the company conceived the idea to reward journalists who give good coverage to all Milo events each year.

Mr Taylor said detailed mechanics of the award scheme would soon be worked out with SWAG to see to the implementation aspect of the scheme. He said Milo's main objective in sports sponsorship is to promote good health and unearth young talents to feed the nation in various sports disciplines.

"Our sponsorship of sporting events offers young aspiring athletes the needed exposure through the media which would in turn boosts their confidence and give them a higher market value"

"Without the needed exposure, these budding athletes would not have the self-assurance to compete on the big stage to bring to an end the country's long search for laurels in major events like the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games."

Mr Ebo Quansah, President of SWAG received the cheque on behalf of the association and thanked Nestle for its continued support of the Awards Night which is in its 28th year, making it one the longest running award scheme in the country.

The SWAG President said the Association would soon shift its focus from just rewarding sports personalities and steer as a pressure group that would fight for the upgrading of sporting facilities in the country to ensure that Ghanaian athletes prepare well for all major events. He said the event, should have been held earlier in the year but was pushed forward in order to celebrate the awards night with the Ghanaian athletes who were expected to come from the Olympics games with laurels.

Mr Quansah said the country did not fare well during the just ended Olympic Games because the athletes did not have the right training before the games hence the flop that was experienced at Athens. He asked sponsors of sporting events to look at avenues of providing the needed infrastructure that would ensure that the athletes get the needed exposure before they go into major competitions to compete with the rest of the world.

The awards night is scheduled to take place next month.