THE Donegal Sports Star committee is to host a launch for the 2020 Awards at a date to be confirmed over the festive period.
There is a new format for the actual awards due to the continued challenges of Covid-19.
There won’t be a formal presentation function which would have been scheduled to take place at the end of January.
Instead, a virtual awards show will take place on Friday 29th of January and committee members are working hard to make it an event remember in these strange times.
Donegal Sports Star Chairperson Grace Boyle says the committee is looking forward to unveiling some of the details about the 2020 Awards at the launch.
“We’re trying in so far as is possible to keep the same template that has made the Donegal Sports Star Awards such a big success in recent years,” Ms Boyle said.
“We won’t have a formal function with 600 people but we will have the virtual awards and there will be a launch over the festive period.
“A date hasn’t been confirmed just yet for the launch as like everyone else we’re all waiting to see what is going to happen when the current lockdown comes up for review before the end of the month.”
It has also been confirmed that exclusive sponsor Donegal County Council is to continue its support of the hugely successful sports star event which first started in 1976.
There will be a reduced number of awards using a different categories format due to the exceptional year that the County has experienced.
The committee announced last month that they will not be seeking nominations for the 2020 Awards and instead a panel is reviewing the year’s sporting achievements and will decide on the winners in due course.
Ms Boyle said that there had been sufficient sporting achievements to merit the hosting of the Donegal Sports Star Awards but not on the same scale as the public has become accustomed to in recent years.
She said: “We certainly have had our fair share of sporting successes in Donegal in 2020 and while it isn’t anywhere near that of the last number years it is only right that we honour the winners the same as we have done every year since 1976 when it all began.
“In these gloomy times it will be nice to bring a bit of excitement and joy with the launch and then the actual awards themselves on the 29th of January.
“It’s something that the sporting public in Donegal can look forward to seeing a new way of presenting the awards.
“The 2020 winners will be the first ever to receive their awards virtually that’s little of history being made. We’re very much looking forward to the task ahead and as I said we will be able to release more details at the launch and hopefully we can confirm a date for that shortly.”
