- This year’s Night of the Stars is scheduled for 7 May
This year’s Botswana Sports Awards will cost approximately P3 million, the CEO of Botswana National Sports Commission (BNSC), Tuelo Serufho, has disclosed.
“The money will be used to pay nominees prices, venue for the awards and many other things that will ensure success of the event,” Serufho said in a telephone interview The Business Weekly Sports. The sports awards, which are an outstanding event on Botswana’s social calendar, are scheduled for 7 May this year.
Aptly dubbed The Night of The Stars, (BNSC) has been hosting the annual sports awards since 1981 alongside various corporate players to recognise and honour sportsmen and sportswomen for outstanding performance across codes. “We intend for this year’s awards to be normal (just like in the past) and will be selling tickets to the event,” Serufho continued. “Yet again, it is important to note that this year’s awards will credit athletes for their performances in 2020 and 2021. That is because we did not host the awards in 2021.”
He added that they have secured some sponsors for the awards. “As in the past, they will sponsor some categories,” he said. “We are still looking for more sponsors and those willing to come on board are most welcome. In the future, we want to sell naming rights to the awards in order to generate more money to fund the awards.”
Botswana’s 400m sensation, Loungo Scotch, emerged the biggest winner in the last edition of the awards in 2020, with a haul of three awards. Meanwhile, the event has undergone a change of name. Formerly known as BNSC Awards, they awards are now simply Botswana Sports Awards after BNSC and Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) agreed to host the event jointly.