SINGAPORE’S biggest sports awards turned out to be a farce of sorts leaving the organisers red-faced as they messed up in the ‘Sports Journalist of the Year Award’.
Blushing faces and blunt egos were the order of the day this week as the wrong journalist unknowingly walked up on stage at the Orchard Hotel to receive the award, something close to impossible to happen in the most prestigious sports award.
And getting it wrong for the media-men is perhaps the most embarrassing and SportsSG, joint organisers with the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC), quickly did damage control, albeit two days later, and apologised for the rarest, and first-ever, awards-blunder.
The national sports agency said in a statement it was an “administrative error” and admitted that representatives from the judging panel had raised an alert of a possible mistake the following day.
Rather bizzarely, SportsSG said the winning articles were matched to the wrong journalist. It attributed this to an administrative error by one of its staff and noted the award ceremony’s auditor, KPMG in Singapore, was not involved in this part of the process.
At Tuesday’s ‘Oscars’, graced by the Speaker of Parliament and SNOC President Tan Chuan Jin, The New Paper’s sub-editor Dilenjit Singh was named the winner of the award, which comes with a trophy and cash prize of $2,000. Matter of fact, The Straits Times correspondent Sazali Abdul Aziz was the correct winner.
FACE-SAVING APOLOGIES
“We sincerely apologise to Dilenjit and Sazali for the error. We congratulate Sazali on the well-deserved win,” said SportSG’s Deputy Director (Public Relations) S. Parameswaran,
The ‘Sport Journalist of the Year’ award was introduced last year to recognise journalists who have consistently produced sports stories throughout the year which capture the positive values of sport, inspire Singaporeans to live more active lifestyles, with the goal of cultivating a Singapore spirit through sports.
Besides Sazali and Dilenjit, this year’s other nominees were Nicole Chia (Straits Times), Kimberly Kwek (formerly at The New Paper) and Matthew Mohan (Channel News Asia).
The boo-boo reminded me of the 2015 Miss Universe Finals in Las Vegas when host-comedian Steve Harvey wrongfully declared Miss Colombia the winner when it should have been Miss Philippines. But a contrite Harvey was forced to immediately fix his mistake before a “live” global audience. He said: “OK folks…I have to apologise. I will take responsibility for this. It was my mistake,”
The real winner, Sazali, 31, joined the Straits Times in 2017 from The New Paper TNP in 2010. His ace-article was on the controversial Farrer Park playing fields – the unofficial home of Singapore sport for decades from the 1960s – which was slated for housing redevelopment. The story and video package evoked strong emotions from sports stakeholders.
SPIRIT OF FORGIVING
In the true spirit of Ramadhan, a Muslim month for forgiving, Sazali politely said: “It is always gratifying to receive recognition for your work, and I’m grateful for the award. Having said that, Dilenjit is a close friend and it is difficult to find joy in a situation like this.”
The New Paper (TNP) editor Eugene Wee added: “It would have been nice if the error was spotted and corrected at the event itself rather than two days after, but we understand that mistakes happen and we congratulate TNP alumnus Sazali for his win.”
Dilenjit did not formally respond to this interview at press-deadline. But I feel sorry for him and understand how disconcerted he must be feeling after the award was, rather unfairly, pulled away from him, although no fault of his.
Mrs May Schooling, mother of the SNOC ‘Sportsman of the Year’ Joseph Schooling, nicely suggested that the two journalists share the title in the spirit of sportsmanship. She sent me this SMS: “Try and correct the situation without embarrassing both parties to be fair to the journalists. They are both good enough to have been nominated so give them some credit.”
Veteran journalist P.N. Balji hit the nail on the head, saying it “should not be dismissed as an administrative error or as a mistake by a rank-and-file officer”.
“It seems to be systemic. Too many slip-ups have happened in recent times that must make the government sit up and ask: What is going on? Remember (terrorist) Mas Selamat’s escape, (the SAF) howitzer death, (the Health Ministry) Hepatatis scare, hacking of medical records. I can go on.
“It is time for the government to find out why these incidents are happening regularly and action taken immediately,” added Balji, the former chief editor of The New Paper & TODAY newspaper, who will be launching his autobiography “The Reluctant Editor” next month.
Former Berita Harian editor and ex-Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Education) Maidin Packer shook his head repeatedly as he said: “This is something that should not have happened and we must make sure it never happens again. It is easily avoidable if there is the usual system of checks.
PHILOSOPHY OF CHECKING
“For example, perhaps SportsSG should consider the system like in a newspaper office. A reporter’s copy is checked by the chief reporter (immediate supervisor) or his assistant. Then by the news editor (a senior supervisor) and later by the sub-editor and/or night editor.
“Critically, in the true process, each checker gets to see the original so as to double check for accuracy. If such a system is too tedious, perhaps there should be at least one level of fact-checking. Such an effort could avoid unnecessary embarrassment on the part of the organiser and the winner/s.”
Likewise retired LTC Chris Wong, who is Vice-Chairman of NFL Division One club South Avenue, slammed the organisers. He says: “This is embarrassing. I feel sorry for Dilenjit and Sazali. I mean it’s only five nominees and a major mistake is made in such a high visibility and prestigious awards ceremony. Very unfortunate that there were no double or triple checks to ensure correctness one or two levels higher.
“It just goes to show that when junior staffers are entrusted to undertake critical roles, they just go through the motion checking boxes and getting the job done. I wonder if there’s passion and interest attached to it especially in things like sports?”
‘REAL BLUNDER’
Another former senior SAF officer Arul Subramaniam smacked it as a “real blunder”. The former 1973 SEA Games hockey gold-medal vice-skipper says: “I’m sad at such a gross error at a national awards event where the rule of organisational law must prevail. And blaming an administration staff is unforgivable.
“How would have both the recipients felt? The glamour and publicity for Sazali is gone. The error should not have happened. It just shows that it was left to the admin staff and there was no verification made by the big bosses. Truly a real blunder.”
Former President of Jansenites Hockey Club Teng Kwang Siang, a former international goalkeeper, moaned: We are breaking totally, when we goof up on such triviality. SportsSG, helmed by so called high-quality high flyers. can make such a novice mistake, then something is very wrong. It is about time that Singapore have passionate people for the job, then ones that try too hard to please.”
This year’s award ceremony is themed “Breaking New Ground”, and is especially apt after a 2018 filled with breakthroughs in our sporting fraternity, says organising chairman Abdul Halim Kader. In his opening speech he said “we’re not just to celebrate the achievements of our athletes…we are also here to pay tribute to the coaches and to recognise excellence in events management, sports journalism and photography”.
He added: “As in previous years, the selection committees from the SNOC and Sport Singapore met and deliberated on the nominations submitted by the National Sports Associations. The committees then voted for the winners through secret ballots. As of now, no one knows the results except auditing firm KPMG who tallied the votes.”
Among the main ‘Oscar’ categories, Olympian gold-medallist swimmer Joseph Schooling won his sixth ‘Sportsman of the Year’ while shooter Martina Veloso clinched the Sportswoman of the Year award. – By SURESH NAIR
- Suresh Nair is a Singapore-based journalist, who has sat in multiple award-committees at the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) and says this SNOC-SportsSG boo-boo is the most reckless he has encountered.
