Awards were also presented to Bob Claxton for his distinguished contribution to Oceania Hockey, as well as Michael Brown for his work at Oceania Table Tennis.

The awards were announced during the OSFO virtual Annual General Meeting, which was conducted digitally via Zoom last month.

OSFO President Kevan Gosper and coordinator Chet Gray said the awards were well-deserved.

"The OSFO Executive put forward their names for the 2020 OSFO Merit Award based on their distinguished service to sport in the region," Gray said.

"Even though Dr Mitchell has been Secretary General and President of ONOC for over 20 years and Helen Brownlee has also been involved on the ONOC Executive for over 20 years, their initial involvement in the region was in sports.

"Based on the OSFO Merit Award criteria both Dr Mitchell and Helen Brownlee have had many years of sport involvement in the Oceania region.

"Their nominations are very worthy."

Mitchell has worked with Oceania Athletics and Oceania Hockey over many years, as well as serving as ONOC President.

ONOC secretary general Ricardo Blas said Mitchell’s award recognised his efforts to support regional sports and help promote excellence in sport.

Mitchell became an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member in 1994 and currently sits on the Executive Board, as well as chairing the Olympic Solidarity Commission.

He is also Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) Acting President.

Mitchell said he was grateful to receive the award and highlighted ONOC’s main priority of helping ensure the Solomon Islands is ready to host the 2023 Pacific Games.

"It’s an honour to receive the recognition from OSFO," Mitchell said.

"In the short term, it is to support the Solomon Islands, in particular the National Olympic Committee of Solomon Islands to make sure the 2023 Pacific Games go ahead and that their sporting facilities are of games standards.

"Our main focus is to support the games and to support the athletes throughout the region.

"And we also want to improve the education of officials so that we have more qualified coaches in the region and don’t need to spend so much on recruiting overseas coaches.

"We also want to make sure that our NOC Presidents and Secretaries General are trained and equipped and to run their organisations well."

Brownlee was a long-standing President of Oceania Canoeing, before stepping down two years ago to focus on her role as Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) vice-president and as a member of the ONOC Executive.

She chairs the ONOC Equity Commission - formerly known as the Women in Sports Commission - and has been viewed as a key voice in the drive for equality within sport in the region.

Brownlee is also a member of the ONOC and IOC Education Commissions.

OSFO introduced its Merit Award in 2017, with recipients having to meet eight criteria to qualify.

Recipients must be a member of an affiliated member federation or associate member federation who has rendered distinguished service to OSFO, as well as distinguished service to their chosen sport in the region.

The recipient should have achieved the service for a period of no less than eight years, while their nomination must be submitted to OFSO with a written report detailing their service.

Members of the OSFO Executive are also able to submit nominations for the award, with no more than four nominees awarded annually.

A Merit Award will be granted to the nominee if the nomination receives a two-third majority of votes cast at an OSFO Executive meeting in favour, with the recipients each receiving a plaque which has a design approved by the OSFO.

OSFO was officially established in Brisbane in March 2005.

The organisation is aimed at uniting regional sports federations with the main objective of representing their interests to ONOC, the IOC, Governments and other sporting stakeholders.