The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Quarter-miler Shaunae Miller and hurdler Jeffery Gibson have been nominated for the 2015 Caribbean Sports Journalists Association (CASJA) Awards for their stellar performances this year.

The list was released by CASJA on Wednesday and includes 44 nominees in six different categories.

Miller and Gibson are the only two Bahamians to make the list. The winners are expected to be announced on Monday after a regional panel of six - comprising of sports journalists, commentators and administrators - makes the final selection.

The panel is made up of Tonique Williams-Darling, Shaka Hislop, Vernon Springer, Terry Finisterre, Ato Boldon and Kayon Raynor.

Miller, winner of the silver medal at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China, in August, is among 11 nominees for the Sportswoman of the Year. Among the others include Jamaicans Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (Athletics) and Stafanie Taylor (Cricket), Ali Atkinson (Swimming) and Danielle Williams (Athletics).

The other nominees are Yarisley Silva and Denia Caballero (Athletics) of Cuba, Akela Jones (Athletics) of Barbados, Shaunae Miller (Athletics) of Bahamas and track and field athletes Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Michelle Lee Ahye and Cleopatra Borel of Trinidad and Tobago.

Gibson, winner of the gold at the Pan American Games and bronze at the World Championships where he capped off a record breaking year, is listed with eight other competitors for the Male Rising Star award.

The others are as follows:

Maykel Masso (Athletics) of Cuba, Akeem Bloomfield (Athletics) of Jamaica, Jeffery Gibson (Athletics) of the Bahamas, Kraigg Brathwaite (Cricket) of Barbados, Christian Marsden (Open Water Swimming) and Akil Campbell (Cycling) of Trinidad and Tobago, Christopher Taylor (Athletics) of Jamaica are joined by Cedenio and Richards, who were nominated for the Sportsman of the Year.

The six categories being considered are Sportsman of the Year, Sportswoman of the Year, Team of the Year (Male), Team of the Year (Female), Rising Star of the Year (Male) and Rising Star of the Year (Female).

The list of nominees comes from the Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Grenada, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago and spans athletics, cricket, cycling, football, gymnastics, netball, sailing, swimming and volleyball.

This marks the second year that CASJA has staged the voting process. Last year’s winners were as follows:

Sportsman – Kirani James (Grenada), Sportswoman – Kaliese Spencer (Jamaica), Team of the Year (Male) – Jamaica’s 4x200m (Nickel Ashmeade, Warren Weir, Jermaine Brown, Yohan Blake), Team of the Year (Female) – Trinidad & Tobago’s Soca Princesses (Football), Rising Star of the Year (Male) – Wilhem Bolocian (Guadeloupe) and Rising Star of the Year (Female) – Akela Jones (Barbados).

CASJA is comprised of journalists, commentators and sportscasters from throughout the region. It is headed by Michael Bascombe of Grenada.

Brent Stubbs, of The Tribune, serves as the treasurer. CASJA was officially launched in the Bahamas during the initial IAAF World Relays in 2014 when former sports writer Godfrey ‘Goofy’ Brown and veteran broadcaster Kirk ‘Stomper’ Smith were honoured.