Dame Mary wants to find our unsung sports heroes

The former Olympian launched the search for Northern Ireland’s top sports volunteers at a special event, where she was joined by Hughes Insurance Ballymena Branch Manager, Sylvia Thompson.

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 will run 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 “It’s a great honour to launch the Hughes Insurance Sports Volunteer Awards. I’ve been in Ballymena many times before and know there’s some fantastic work being done by sports volunteers and I’d encourage the people of Ballymena to nominate a volunteer from a local sporting club or society for the chance to win some great prizes.”

Brian McDowell, Head of Sales and Marketing at Hughes Insurance added “We’re incredibly excited about the launch of our Sports Volunteer Awards and would encourage everyone in the Ballymena area to visit the branch or go online to our website to cast their vote. We’re incredibly passionate about sport in our local communities and have launched the awards to give volunteers across the province the recognition they deserve.”

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.