Final Beyond Sport Awards 2011 winners unveiled

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The second wave of winners of the Beyond Sport Awards 2011 was announced, with the final six winning projects revealed on the last day of the Beyond Sport Summit.

Tony Blair, the former British Prime Minister and Chairman of the Beyond Sport Ambassadors, brought the Summit to a close by presenting the Sport for Conflict Resolution Award to Play31, which uses a process involving sports, hospitality, and peace-building sessions to bring together communities affected by civil war in Sierra Leone.

Thursday’s other winners were Project Air Rwanda (Best New Project); Move 4 New Horizons (UNICEF Sport for Education Award, Supported by PwC); Football For Hope (Sport for Health Award); Sony Corporation (Corporation of the Year, Supported by Fortune); and Mathare Youth Sports Association (Leadership in Sport Award, Supported by Heidrick & Struggles).

They followed Wednesday’s winners: Umthombo Surf Stars (Sport for Social Inclusion Award, Supported by Barclays Spaces for Sports); NHL Green (Sport for the Environment Award); Australian Football League (Sport Federation or Governing Body of the Year, Supported by SportAccord); Philadelphia Eagles Football Club (Sport Team of the Year, Supported by StubHub); and Eco Sports Group (Innovation through Sport Award).

Completing 2011’s roll of honour, Didier Drogba, the Chelsea FC and Ivory Coast striker, was awarded the Humanitarian in Sport Award, Supported by Virgin Atlantic, ahead of this week’s Summit in recognition of his work in Ivory Coast and throughout Africa.

Each winning project will receive a bespoke package of support that in some cases includes funding, and in others extensive consultancy and aid thanks to the support of companies such as PwC, EURO RSCG, and SportCourt International. All have received global recognition and will continue to get in-depth profiling of their work through Beyond Sport.

Nick Keller, the Founder of Beyond Sport, said: “Each of these projects, organisations or individuals has been a true leader in this incredible and increasingly vital field. We are here to honour them, to recognise their success, to learn from them and to help them take their work to a new level. It is exciting to think what our Beyond Sport Awards 2011 winners, who have achieved so much already, will accomplish in the future.”

The Beyond Sport Awards Winners 2011 are:

Best New Project
Project Air Rwanda, a programme for populations that are HIV positive that uses yoga as a form of psycho-physiotherapy to help survivors of the country’s Genocide.

UNICEF Sport for Education Award, supported by PwC
Move 4 New Horizons, an informal education programme in Nepal that prepares low-caste children in rural communities for school through a playful, sport-based curriculum.

Sport for Health Award
Football for Hope, which is geared specifically towards helping young unemployed women in Rwanda overcome crucial health risks, by conducting educational activities at football tournaments.

Corporation of the Year, Supported by Fortune
Sony Corporation, which went beyond sponsoring the 2010 World Cup through an initiative called Dream Goal 2010, operating within deprived communities of Africa by providing youth with technology, skills and education.

Leadership in Sport Award, supported by Heidrick & Struggles
Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA), which was honoured on its 25th Anniversary for using sports to engender broad socio-economic development in Kenya, while also effecting positive social change by linking sports with social improvement and community development activities such as slum garbage cleanups, environmental improvement and HIV/AIDs prevention.

Sport for Conflict Resolution Award
Play31, which uses a process involving sports, hospitality, and peace-building sessions to bring together communities affected by civil war in Sierra Leone.

Sport for Social Inclusion Award, Supported by Barclays Spaces for Sports
Umthombo Surf Stars, a high-intensity engagement programme in South Africa that provides refuge, resources and skills to empower street children to engage with mainstream society.

Sport for the Environment Award
NHL Green, which has made environmental awareness its key priority, mobilising all of the league’s teams to reduce its ecological footprint throughout the United States and Canada.

Sport Federation or Governing Body of the Year, Supported by SportAccord
Australian Football League, for its programme that utilises the country’s love for Aussie rules football to improve the wellbeing and inclusion of indigenous communities.

Sport Team of the Year, supported by StubHub
Philadelphia Eagles Football Club, which has taken the lead in demonstrating how a business can do well by doing good through its Eagles Youth Partnership, Eagles Go Green initiatives and its Solar Blue stadium conversion.

Innovation through Sport Award
Eco Sports Group, a unique initiative in Bosnia and Herzegovina that provides water-based activities for disabled persons and amputees – most of them surviving mine victims – and their family a chance to experience much higher level of mobility as well as therapeutic counselling.

Humanitarian in Sport Award, supported by Virgin Atlantic
Didier Drogba, for his work in Ivory Coast and throughout Africa. The Chelsea FC striker has played a key role in bringing about a ceasefire in the country, while his Foundation has worked towards building a much-needed hospital in Abidjan. 100% of Drogba’s earnings from commercial sponsorship are donated to his Foundation.

For more information on Beyond Sport and the Beyond Sport Awards, visit www.beyondsport.org.

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