NWYC Shortlisted For BT Sports Industry Award
Calistus Kolantsho | Monday February 12, 2018 11:13
Last week, an announcement was made that the International Netball Federation’s (INF) social media campaign for the Netball World Youth Cup 2017 has made the shortlist for the BT Sports Industry Awards 2018 Social Media Campaign of the Year.
According to a statement from INF, the awards are the largest commercial sport awards in the world, celebrating the very best work from across the sector.
Netball Africa president and former Botswana Netball Association (BONA) president, Tebogo Lebotse-Sebego told Sport Monitor that she is excited about the nomination. “Being nominated for such prestigious awards is a big achievement on its own. For us, this is not about winning but recognition. Hosting a world cup event is not something that you can dream about in a lifetime,” she said.
The NWYC, which is the pinnacle of netball competition for emerging players aged Under 21, took place in Gaborone last year and was the first INF event to be held in Africa. Lebotse-Sebego said they have been pitted against the biggest brands in the World such as Adidas and European Tour.
She said that is an indication that the event was well branded and planned. She added that the country has the ability to host more world events in future. Lebotse-Sebego said a world-class event is possible with little budget hence they managed to pull off the NWYC.
“Sports tourism has the potential to grow big in this country. People should not only be visiting our country because of diamonds. We should look at sports as a way of economic diversification,” she said.
The ‘mobile first, content everywhere’ social media campaign created and delivered by QTV Sports in conjunction with Btv and Tsena Online, attracted two million views on Facebook, one million on TV, over half a million on YouTube and 55, 000 on Twitter, making it the INF’s biggest online audience ever for a world netball event. The announcement for the winners in each category will be made on April 26, 2018.