Dominican Sportsmen, Sports Personalities and Sports Clubs Who Have Received National Awards (1967 to 2020)

The Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica has, for the past several years now been bestowing up to five (5) categories of national awards on deserving individuals, groups and organisations for rendering meritorious service to the State.

The highest such award is the Dominica Award of Honour, and this is followed by the Sisserou Award of Honour, then the Meritorious Service Award, followed by the Services Medal of Honour, and finally the Long Service Medal.

Dominica first started conferring national awards in 1967, the year that the island attained Statehood from Great Britain. That year, and for the next seven years up until 1974, only a single category of award was bestowed upon recipients but that award had no-name compared to the present.

From 1975, the number of categories was increased to three (3) and these were named, Dominica Award of Honour (DAH), Sisserou Award of Honour (SAH) and the Meritorious Service Award (MSA). The number of categories remained at three up until 1982, and from 1983 the Long Service Award (LSA) was introduced, bringing the number of categories to four. Subsequently, in 1994 the Services Medal of Honour (SMH) was bestowed for the first time.

To date, a total of twenty-one (21) sportsmen, sports officials, and sports personalities have received national awards. Joining them on the field are three (3) sports clubs. (See below for names of recipients and their awards).

Irving Shillingford is the only one from that ad hoc group to receive Dominica's highest national award, the Dominica Award of Honour, whilst Phillip G. Alleyne was the first recipient in that group to receive an award, and Somerset Sports Club the first sports club to be awarded at the national level. The Harlem Sports Club is still active sixteen (16) years after receiving its national award.

Source: National Service Awards Register.

Compiled by Arlington James, June 2021

The following are the Dominican sportsmen, sports personalities and sports clubs who have received national awards to date. The names of the awardees are presented mainly in order of the category of award received – beginning with the Dominica Award of Honour - rather than by the year when the particular award was received. The latter information is presented in parentheses (e.g. 1955) immediately following the name of each awardee.

Dominica Award of Honour:

Irving Theodore Shillingford (1976).

Sisserou Award of Honour:

George Carrington (1988); Jerome Romain (1995); Clem John (2002); and Grayson Shillingford (2009).

Award for Meritorious Service:

Phillip Gregory Alleyne (1969); and Reginald St. Hayvisse Shillingford (1974).

Meritorious Service Award:

SAG Toyota Somerset Sports Club (1998); Billy Doctrove (2000); Miss Jennifer Nanton (2001); Bertrand Bruney (2001); Cecil Larocque (2003); Kelleb Laurent (2003); Thomas Kentish (2004); Joffre Faustin (2008); Clifford Osborne Lewis (2008); Emanuel Loblack (2018); and Job Joseph (2018).

Services Medal of Honour:

Harlem Sports Club (2005); Cavalier Sports Club (2006); Don Leogal (2014); Sensei Shannah Robin (2014); and Delvin Esprit (2016).

Long Service Medal:

Chaucer Doctrove (2009).

Summary

Total Number of Recipients -24

Total Number of Awards Received -24

Number of Recipients of Dominica Award of Honour-1

Number of Recipients of Sisserou Award of Honour-4

Number of Recipients of Meritorious Service Award-13

Number of Recipients of Services Medal of Honour-5

Number of Recipients of Long Service Award-1

Number of Individuals Receiving Awards-21

Number of sports Clubs Receiving Awards-3

Prepared by Arlington James