By Graham Walker
NOMINATE your sporting heroes to be honoured at The Star and St John Ambulance Sports Awards 2008.
And you could win two VIP tickets.
Our glittering, inaugural awards night, with celebrity guests, entertainment and four course dinner, will be THE sporting event of the year in South Yorkshire.
It will highlight the achievements of unsung community heroes and professional superstars of all ages, in professional and amateur sport, throughout The Star’s circulation area.
We want you to nominate the individuals, teams, organisations and local sporting companies who are simply the best. There’s the chance to honour everyone from the groundsman of a local junior soccer squad to the region’s biggest names in sport.
All will rub shoulders at our celebratory awards dinner at Ponds Forge, Sheffield, on Thursday, October 9, 2008. Our sponsors and sports writers will judge all your nominations and pick the winners.
Star readers will decide our top, overall award of Sports Personality of the Year - with the chance to vote, later in proceedings, from a shortlist of finalists based on your nominations for this category.
Some awards - such as 2008 Olympic Achievement - won’t be decided until the end of the games, in August. But we want you to be primed to look out for the region’s best.
The criteria is simple - those nominated for an award must have been born, live or operate in The Star’s circulation area, of South Yorkshire and the region.
Everyone who enters a nomination will be put into a free prize draw for a chance to win a pair of tickets to attend this black tie event. See terms and conditions. Fill in the nomination form and attach any supporting evidence, such as reports, testimonials, photos and other documentation - send only copies, as these will not be returned.
The categories:
• Sports Personality of the Year
• Lifetime Achievement
• Sporting Business of the Year
• 2008 Olympic Achievement
• The Young Achievers Award (Under 24, Pro or Amateur)
• Coach/Manager of the Year (Pro or Amateur)
• Amateur Sports Club of the Year
• Professional Sporting Achievement of the Year
• Amateur Sporting Achievement of the Year
• Outstanding Community Contribution of the Year
• Unsung Hero Award
• Disabled Sports Personality

Complete YOUR nomination form on line and submit it now - click here.

By Graham Walker
THE Star is proud to team up with St John Ambulance Charity - to honour our sporting heroes.
Sponsors already include Williams Fasteners, Outokumpu and The Ivory.
St John Ambulance’s volunteers are renowned for the many hours they give each year ensuring public events are able to take place in a safe environment. The charity provides valuable and much-needed assistance to professional and grassroots sport. It is the leading first aid training provider in the UK and the third largest youth organisation.
Philip Gee, Executive Director of St John Ambulance, said: “This will be a wonderful, celebratory event that will generate much needed revenue for the St John Ambulance charity.
“Our volunteers do a terrific job all year round for a variety of events, from major sporting competitions to local amateur activities. However, much as we have already done, we need to do more for young members and the wider community.
“In order to achieve our goals, we have joined forces with The Star to launch these awards with the aim of gaining support from companies in the region through the many sponsorship packages available.
“The event also provides an opportunity to inform more people about what St John Ambulance is about and what we can offer to the local area.”
Tony Searles, Chairman of category sponsors Williams Fasteners, added: “We are proud to sponsor the Lifetime Achievement Award. As a successful business for 138-years, we recognise the long term hard work involved to achieve such an award.”
Outokumpu, one of the world’s leading stainless steel companies, is also proud to be a sponsor. Mark Perrins, Managing Director of Outokumpu Stainless Distribution, said: “Everyone has an interest in sport and we are proud to be part of The Star and St John Ambulance Sports Awards. The work undertaken by St John Ambulance is not always fully appreciated and they do much more for the community than most people know.”
Champagne reception sponsor is The Ivory - a great place to relax and treat yourself to good food, drink and live music, in Regent Terrace, off West Street, Sheffield .
Owner Michael Brocklebank said: “The Ivory is about promoting the best of what the local area has to offer through food, music, drink and arts and recognises that sport is a fundimental part of noth just Sheffield but Yorkshire as a whole. We have some great talented people from Yorkshire that this should be celebrated as you are doing.’’
Alan Powell, editor of The Star, says: “South Yorkshire has a great sporting past but more importantly, it has a brilliant sporting present. The region has a host of world champions and champions-in-waiting.
“The Sports Awards celebrate and applaud the sporting endeavours and achievements of our regional heroes, and the event will be a memorable night of recognition for excellence and success.”
The Ponds Forge event is a must for any sports fan. It offers the chance to mix with household names and unsung heroes. The night will be hosted by celebrity presenters, feature a four course dinner, big screen video sports action and a charity auction with exclusive memorabilia.
Entertainment will include a headline performance by superbike Champion James Toseland and BBC Sports presenter Seth Bennett in their renowned band, Crash.
* For tickets and sponsorship opportunities contact Katrina Bagshaw on 0844 811 1360, e-mail bravura@swy.sja.org.uk or promotions@sheffieldnewspapers.co.uk
All bookings can be made on line at www.bravuraevents.co.uk
For more information about St John Ambulance visit www.sja.org.uk or call 08700 10 49 50.

For more prizes and offers see The Star, Mondays to Saturdays! Click here to subscribe