Dame Mary urges Ballymena entries for sporting awards

The Hughes Insurance Sports Volunteer Awards is a national awards programme that aims to reward the unsung heroes of local sport in communities across Northern Ireland. The awards will unearth the true sporting heroes in our communities and is open to volunteers from all sports.

The awards are running province-wide, focused through 12 branches of Hughes Insurance, and each location will have a winner when voting closes and the decisions are made by a sporting judging panel in the summer.

Olympic gold medalist, Dame Mary Peters, said “I know there is some fantastic work being done by sports volunteers and I am encouraging the people of Ballymena to nominate a volunteer from a local sporting club or society to give us an opportunity to reward them for all their hard work.”

Hughes Ballymena Branch Manager Sylvia Thompson added “We are encouraging everyone in Ballymena to visit the branch or go online to our website to cast their vote. We’re incredibly passionate about sport in our local community and have launched the awards to give volunteers across the province the recognition they deserve. The more nominations there are in Ballymena the better the chance of a national winner. ”

Each Hughes Insurance branch winner will win a trophy, £200 for themselves plus £500 for the team, club or group. All 12 will then go forward to the Northern Ireland finals and the chance to win big.

To nominate a volunteer from your community for the award, please visit your local Hughes Insurance branch for an entry form or find us on the web at www.HughesSportsVolunteers.com. The deadline for nominations is 3rd June 2012.