PSA sets early sked for annual awards

For the first time in a long while, the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Annual Awards Night will start early as President Arroyo is expected to be at the grand ballroom of the Manila Pavilion at exactly 7 p.m.

All awardees, officials and guests are advised to be at the venue ahead of time as dinner will be served an hour before the formal program begins.

President Arroyo is the special guest in the simple, but fitting two-hour rites honoring the top sports achievers of 2005.

Together with guest of honor Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Jose "Peping" Cojuangco and Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman William "Butch" Ramirez, the Chief Executive will hand out to Team Philippines the Athlete of the Year trophy — the highest award bestowed by the country’s oldest media organization in the yearly affair.

"We are requesting the awardees, guests, officials and all our friends to come as early as possible since proper protocol will be observed during the program,"said PSA president Jimmy Cantor of Malaya.

Team Philippines was named the 2005 Athlete of the Year following its historic triumph in the 23rd Southeast Asian Games that saw the Filipinos win the overall title for the first time since it began competing in the biennial meet in 1977.

Diver Sheila Mae Perez heads the list of those who will be conferred major awards–23 in all–for their achievements in their respective sports.

Special citations, on the other hand, are to be given to all SEA Games gold medal winners during the affair sponsored by Red Bull, supported by San Miguel Corp., PSC and Manila Mayor Lito Atienza and to be telecast over NBN 4 on a slightly delayed basis.

Leading the recipients of 17 citations from the 56-year old, 100-member group is San Miguel Corp., whose P100 million donation to the First Gentleman Foundation helped fund the training of 13 National Sports Associations (NSAs), which won a combined total of 56 out of the 113 gold medals Team Philippines bagged.

Other awards to be handed out are the Most Oustanding NSA copped by the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation and the Tony Siddayao awards to young golfers Wolen Superal and Miguel Tabuena.

Cantor said invitations to the awards night are now being distributed.

Awardees who will not receive their invitations may get them instead at the reception area of the Manila Pavilion ballroom on the awards day itself.

Amateur basketball star Alex Compton and sports broadcaster Patricia Bermudez-Hizon are program hosts.