The annual Safaricom Sports Personality of the Year Awards (SOYA) will be held on January 11 in Mombasa.
Soya awards have traditionally been held in Nairobi and the organisers deemed it fit to broaden the scope by taking it to the coastal town as it marks 15 years of recognising the country’s sportsmen and women.
A celebrity international sports icon is expected to grace the event as the guest, an initiative aimed at inspiring sports personalities through a word of encouragement and promoting sports tourism beyond Kenyan borders. Soya founder Paul Tergat lauded the top performers in sports for increasingly making Kenya an ideal tourist destination.
“As the organisers, we are glad to have partnered with Mombasa County, who are the hosts of this colourful event that brings together people from different walks of life and sporting disciplines,” Tergat said.
“We are looking forward to celebrate them for the great effort they put in marketing Kenya as a destination of choice for sports tourism and other investment opportunities.”
There will be 15 categories on offer at the awards ceremony including overall sports personality of the year, sportsman of the year, sportswoman, sports team (men and women), federation of the year, coach of the year, community hero/heroine of the year and hall of fame induction.
Others include sportsman living with disability (men and women), most promising (girl/boy), school team (girls/boys), outstanding player (boy/girl).