The Malta Sports Journalists Association has recently held its Annual General Meeting which was hosted in the Main Hall within the Institute for Physical Education and Sports at the University of Malta.
General Secretary Lorraine Cunningham presented the administrative report which was unanimously approved. Same for the financial report which was presented by Stephen Azzopardi.
During the AGM the Malta SJA members were briefed about the various duties and activities organised by the Malta Sports Journalists Association since last year’s AGM.
It was another successful year for the collaboration with Atlas Insurance for the Atlas Youth Athlete of the Month and of the Year respective awards. Together Gaming Solutions extended their collaboration for the TGS Malta Fair Play Award which is awarded on a quarterly basis to those athletes or teams that excel in Fair Play during local sporting events. Apart from these two established collaborations, the Malta Sports Journalists Association launched a new bi-monthly award together with National Lottery with its brand IZIBET which is the IZIBET Elite Athlete Award exclusively dedicated to elite Maltese athletes.
The MSJA continued to receive various invitations from several sports federations and associations to attend their respective awards ceremonies.
During the period in review the Malta SJA presented three GħĠS Cups as part of the long-term agreement and relationship with the ASA and HAM. Executive Committee member Mark Muscat presented last year’s GħĠS Super Cup to Sirens ASC while President Sandro Micallef presented this year’s GħĠS Super Cup to Valletta IZIBET ASC. Executive Committee member Robert Busuttil presented the Hockey’s Super Cup to Qormi Daikin Hockey Club.
During the AGM a discussion was held related to the last and upcoming edition of the Għażliet Sportivi Nazzjonali. Those present showed their support to the MSJA’s Executive Committee in the organisation of the coming edition and appreciated the struggles and sacrifices involved for organising such an event. President Sandro Micallef explained that unfortunately SportMalta once again did not show any interest in signing a long term financial and support agreement to organise jointly these awards thus the 2023 edition was organised 'out of contract'. This was the third consecutive year that the SportMalta Awards were organised without a formal signed agreement by the two parties.
In his concluding remarks Malta SJA President Sandro Micallef thanked the Malta Council for Voluntary Sector after the Association had been successful in obtaining funding through the Training Initiative Scheme for a Seminar to be held in October targeting Women Sports Journalists. Micallef also mentioned that a delegation from the Malta SJA Exco had a positive meeting with the Malta Football Association General Secretary and Communications Director ahead of the 2023/24 local football season.
