Inaugural Panam Sports Awards
The inaugural Panam Sports Awards were hosted in Fort Lauderdale, FL in December 2019 following what many consider the best Pan American Games in history, Lima 2019. With so many outstanding performances by great athletes, we at Panam Sports wanted to capitalize on the momentum and good press earned during those Games with another event.
We came up with an awards show designed to showcase the athletes who competed at the Games, making those same athletes the stars of the show. At other similar events in the Olympic Movement, the awards ceremonies are made more for the sport leaders of countries and not the athletes themselves. We wanted to flip the script on that trend, inviting athlete representatives from all 41 countries of the Americas — not just the awards nominees — and giving them a media day before the awards, a televised red carpet experience, premium seating for the event and select presentation opportunities during the broadcast.
We partnered with Univision for the live broadcast of the event given our predominantly Spanish-speaking audience. However, our small team greatly assisted with the planning, promotion and execution of the program of the show and the broadcast itself. Our contributions included: contacting all of the athletes; creating a microsite on our website to conduct the voting process; releasing traditional and digital media promotions to engage the community; scheduling media opportunities with select star athletes; organizing media day activities and red carpet walking times; writing the scripts for the videos included during the ceremony; edited the show script and rundown; and coordinating interviews with the awards winners during the show.
I personally edited and translated the show script to English and even lended my voice over talent for the PA announcements during the ceremony. I also wrote the scripts for the video features during the show and provided the voice over for the feature on the British Virgin Islands (Click here to watch the BVI feature). I also conducted the interviews with each of the award winners backstage during the show. My colleague Alejandro Goycoolea and I also created and distributed a printed magazine showcasing the highlights of Lima 2019 and the awards winners. Click here to read more about the special edition magazine we created for the awards.
The entire experience was a revelation for me, showing me the ins and outs of a live television event and understanding how I could personally impact and improve a broadcast. I employed my varied skillset to fill gaps wherever they presented themselves and believe I greatly improved the final product.
Click here to watch the full Panam Sports Awards including the red carpet experience preceding it.
* Note: The official show starts at 1:51:30. If the video doesn’t play after jumping forward, press the back button and click on the video thumbnail at the bottom of the screen again. Video should play from the same position once it’s loaded)
