Peace and Sport Award winners get a royal reception in Monaco

By Nick Butler

November 7 - Winners of the 2013 Peace and Sports Awards, including the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and former French rugby league player Sébastien Bouche, have been crowned in Monaco in the presence of Princess Charlene.

Created in 2008, the annual Peace and Sport Awards seeks to reward "organisations and individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to peace, dialogue and social stability in the world through sport."

Award winners are nominated by a jury of "eminent and independent personalities, deeply invested in peace-promotion or consolidation through sport."

For the 2013 edition, these included Tony Estanguet, France's three-time Olympic champion in slalom canoeing and International Olympic Committee (IOC) member,as well as Adham Sharara, President of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) .

It was fitting that the awards should also be conducted in the presence of Princess Charlene considering that, before marrying Prince Albert, a longstanding IOC member, she was an Olympic swimmer who competed for South Africa at Sydney 2000.

The OFC led the way in securing Federation of the Year Prize after fending off competition from USA Wrestling as well as the Italian Federation of Sport Climbing.

The Oceania Football Confederation received the Sports Federation of the Year Award for the success of their "Just Play" programme

Their "Just Play" programme has been implemented in 11 Pacific countries and, through partnerships with local authorities, sports clubs and schools, targets six to 12 year-olds to help them adopt healthier lifestyles.

The same approach has been used across the region to train the different instructors, who then apply this knowledge in a specific area.

"It's a big honour for Oceania today," said Franck Castillo, the OFC Head of Social Responsibility and International Relations, who was in Monaco to receive the award.

"It's wonderful recognition for all the Just Play managers in each country, the development officers, all the instructors and all 2,600 volunteers who have been trained to deliver the programme to 150,000 children.

Former rugby league player Sébastien Bouche was awarded the Champion of the Year award at the Peace and Sport Awards

Since retiring from rugby Bouche has founded the "Mixah Solidarité", organisation, using sport as a means of promoting diversity, solidarity and integration throughout France.

Sébastien Bouche was awarded the Champion of the Year Award

Image of the Year was awarded to A Day for Peace through Sport while the Gol Illuminado Foundation received the Sport Event of the Year accolade.

Other award winners were Ferrero France for Corporate Initiative of the Year, Play 31 for Non-Governmental Organisation of the Year, Sport 4 peaceful election for the Special Jury Prize and N'Tola Sarama Association for Addapted Programme of the Year.

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