A week ago tonight, the first of four codes landed in subscribers’ inboxes. Some saw it the moment the Newsletter dropped; others picked it up later in the week from a friend who’d forwarded the edition with a single line attached. Subscribe. You’ll want to be on the list.

That was the point.

Tonight, the second code goes out in the Leadership edition of the gsport Newsletter. Two more will follow on the next two Wednesdays. By the close of May, four codes will be in circulation, and the application to work on the 21st gsport Awards will open to the people who collected them. 

The more codes you’ve gathered, the stronger the case you’ll bring. But every application will be read, regardless of how many codes accompany it. The mechanic is there to reward the people who’ve been paying attention. It is not there to exclude anyone who hasn’t.

The Leadership theme of tonight’s edition celebrates the women shaping the boardrooms, the federations, and the dressing rooms of South African sport. The categories of Coach of the Year, Federation of the Year, Woman of the Year, and Volunteer of the Year are open for public nomination at gsport.co.za through 30 June, and they recognise a particular kind of contribution: the kind that gets work done, year after year, often without applause. 

“That kind of contribution is exactly what the gsport Awards themselves rely on, and it brings us to the heart of what this week’s editorial is really about.”

gsport Founder, Kass Naidoo

The 21st gsport Awards will need a crew. Every Awards programme does, and every year we are reminded that the difference between an event the community remembers and an event that simply happens is the team behind it. Some of those roles are obvious. Many are not. So let me sketch the shape of what we’ll be looking for, because the person reading this might be one of them, and the person you forward this to almost certainly is.

Start with the words on the page. Lead writers for the Awards Newsroom in the run-up. Profile writers for the nominee write-ups across all twenty categories. Sub-editors and copy editors who can hold the line under pressure. Press release writers who can turn a moment on stage into a national headline by morning. 

Alongside them, the people who frame the visuals: videographers and video editors, stills photographers ready for event night, photo editors who can move at speed, and the assistants that help them source key images and record all the key details, graphic designers shaping the campaign assets and certificates and social tiles, and motion-graphics designers for the stage screens that carry the whole evening.

Then there is the digital floor. A social media manager carrying the full campaign. Content creators in short-form across TikTok and Reels. Live tweeters and live posters on event night. Community managers handling comments and DMs through the run-in. Hashtag trackers and analytics watchers, quietly logging what works so that next year’s campaign starts with better answers.

From the gsport Newsroom Archives, July 2024

The event itself rests on its own backbone. An event producer. A stage manager, and a run-of-show coordinator. A floor manager. A volunteer coordinator. Ushers, runners, registration and check-in. A hotel and transport liaison for nominees travelling in. A merchandise and gift-bags coordinator. For the livestream, a broadcast director, vision mixer, sound engineer and multi-camera operators. Up front, hosts and a red-carpet team. Behind the scenes, a media liaison for press night. Holding it all together, a project manager and a judging coordinator to keep the scoring honest and on time.

Some of those roles will be paid. Many will be volunteer, and have always been. The application asks you to tell us which one you are, and both answers are welcome. The 21st gsport Awards will be shaped by the women they exist to honour, and by the people who stand alongside them, and that has to include those for whom this is their work as well as those for whom this is their passion. We need both. We have always needed both.

Three things, then, before you click away.

First – gsport always looks to appoint a woman to the job. This does not mean that men are not involved, to the contrary, men are an invaluable element in the gsport Awards’ successes, but if there’s a lady with the relevant traits, we’re looking at you first!

Then: Subscribe to the gsport Newsletter at gsport.co.za, and the next two weeks’ codes will reach you in tonight’s edition. And, if you know someone who would be perfect on the gsport Awards crew this year, forward this article to them, send them the Newsletter sign-up link, or tag them on social media with #gsport21, #20YearsOfgsport, and #IRecogniseHer.

The campaign rests on word of mouth as much as on what we can do ourselves. Two more codes still to come. One application still to open.

Thank you for your support,
Kass Naidoo
Founder, gsport


Main Photo Caption: gsport is in the midst of distributing a series of four exclusive codes to Newsletter subscribers as part of a unique application process for those interested in joining the diverse production crew for the upcoming 21st gsport Awards, which will celebrate two decades of excellence in South African women’s sports. Image: Supplied



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