The decision came following the first Supervisory Board of the year, chaired by Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) President and Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov in Moscow, decided to create the award to recognise contributions made to sustainable development relating to the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in less than two years' time.

The idea behind the award is to increase the number of projects which are designed to bring about long term positive change in social, environmental and economic areas in the Black Sea resort.

There are three categories and 11 awards in total.

The general nominations category will reward the "best complex project of the year", the "best project of the year for work with young people" and the "best innovation project of the year".

The Sochi 2014 key sustainable development activities will give awards for promoting "healthy lifestyles", "harmony with nature", a "world without barriers", "economic prosperity", "modern technologies" and "culture and national values".

The final category is for special nominations, and this will be presented to the "company of the year" and the "person of the year".


Sochi 2014 President and chief executive Dmitry Chernyshenko (pictured) said: "All the hard work we are undertaking in preparations for the Games – from infrastructure development to the integration of green construction standards – is achieved to promote positive and sustainable changes across the whole of the country.

"This focus is the key reason why awarding positive contributions to sustainable development is an extremely important event, helping to praise the companies which are already following these principles today and encouraging others to do the same in the future."

The first awards ceremony will be taking place in December, celebrating winning projects between 2011 and 2012.

The supervisory board also had praise for the preparations for the visit of the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Coordination Committee to Sochi last month.

The Commission left Sochi with another glowing report on its progress for the Winter Olympics and Paralympics, with all sporting venues due to be complete by the end of the year.

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