ITV News broadcaster Antoine Allen has described winning the inaugural ‘Sport for Change Journalism’ award at the SJA British Sports Journalism Awards as “the biggest achievement” of his career so far, and urged his fellow journalists to keep demonstrating how “sport can be a conduit for change”.
Antoine received the prize, which was created by the Sports Journalists’ Association in association with ConnectSport CIC, at the prestigious awards ceremony in central London.
Hosted by TalkSport presenters Jim White and Reshmin Chowdhury, more than 600 sports journalists gathered at London’s Park Plaza Westminster Bridge hotel for what has been described as the ‘Oscars’ of the industry. Read more about the award winners here.
IMPORTANT
It was a case of 10th time lucky for Antoine, who has been shortlisted no fewer than nine times for awards over the last three years.
“It feels surreal and it feels like a long time coming,” he said. “I feel really proud.
“The fact this is the inaugural award so it’s the first time anyone has had the opportunity to win it. To have my work recognised is really important because yes sport can be escapism, but sport can be a conduit for change. It can give people the chance to really understand the diversity of society, but also the issues that are impacting young people every single day.”
Antoine’s nomination particularly impressed the judges with the way it highlighted numerous ways in which sport and physical activity are contributing to sustainable development, and addressing issues such as serious youth violence and climate change, poverty and inequality, and amplifying what sport stars are doing to inspire and support young people in communities.
He commented: “I always question and ask the sports stars, what are you doing for the community? I ask sports teams what are they doing for their town? And I ask politicians how they can make sure that sport can be the best tool, to give everyone an opportunity either for their health or for what they want to achieve in society or bring people together.”
Antoine said: “To have won this has been the biggest achievement of my career to date. I’ve been shortlisted for what I’d say is every major broadcast journalism award there is, but the fact that I have won this will always be my biggest achievement.”
RESPONSE
This is the second of two 'Sport for Change' awards created by the Sports Journalists’ Association (SJA) in partnership with ConnectSport CIC, with the Clean Water Sports Alliance named as winner of the category at the British Sports Awards in December.
Other media outlets and journalists shortlisted for the inaugural journalism award were: David Lockwood (BBC Sport), Bespoke Content Team (Sky Sports News), Owen Slot (The Times and The Sunday Times), Summaya Mughal (BBC), and Versus.
Simon Lansley, Managing Director of ConnectSport CIC, commented: "We have been thrilled by the response to this first 'Sport for Change Journalism' award. Journalists at all levels have a critical role to play in raising awareness and building advocacy for the contribution of sport and physical activity to sustainable development."
Nominations for the award covered a wide range of key issues, from challenging inequality and discrimination, to tackling the impacts of climate change in our communities, and from reducing crime and anti-social behaviour, to improving mental and physical health and wellbeing, and increasing community cohesion.
ConnectSport CIC works with Universities to train and support students in sport, sustainable development and the media. Read Simon's recent blog 'Why we need more sport for change journalists' or watch the video.
Read more about the Sports Journalists' Association at sportsjournalists.co.uk
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