By Gerard Walsh
The Stanthorpe RSL Club and Town and Country Journal have joined together to start junior sports star of the month awards for the Granite Belt starting January 1 next year.
The awards will be open to athletes under 18 years living in the Granite Belt area, east and south to the New South Wales border and west to the border between Southern Downs and Goondiwindi regional councils. Each monthly winner will receive $50 from the Stanthorpe RSL. A dinner will be held early in 2026 at the RSL at which the junior sports star of the year will receive $500 from the Stanthorpe RSL. The Town and Country Journal will be the media partner.
Stanthorpe last had awards around 25 years ago. Rules will be publicised within the next two months with one of the main rules being that Granite Belt residents away at boarding school are included as well as students out of the area who might board in Stanthorpe during the week to go to the Stanthorpe State High School or St Joseph’s. An independent judging panel will be formed as well as an organising committee from Stanthorpe.
Stanthorpe RSL secretary manager Glenn Boston said the RSL had been thinking about a junior sports award for a couple of years. “We are happy about the current awards proposal. The Stanthorpe RSL supports all sports clubs in town and donates $100,000 to the community each year,” he said. “All groups get a little slice of the pie.”
Stanthorpe Sports Association president John Hendry said it was a wonderful idea to have sports awards. “Young people will see the first couple of winners in the paper and it will give them something to strive for,” he said. “The Stanthorpe sporting community is lucky to get so much support from the RSL.”
Debbie Wilmot has been on the Stanthorpe Sports Association committee for 20 years and will help organise the awards. All nominations will be received at her business Gracious Giving. “I remember when our son Jason received a junior award when in little athletics at the age of 10 and he is now 41. My husband Brian and I have now been involved in many sports for the past 36 years,” she said. “The awards will showcase some of Stanthorpe’s most talented sports people and encourage them to go to the next level.”
Terri McMeniman will be part of the awards team and said it would be great for children to receive recognition for achievements. Many do well but don’t make a show of it and deserve recognition.
“There is a lot of great talent in our community which is not recognised,” she said. In the next six months, the Town and Country Journal will profile some junior sports stars from the Granite Belt in the run up to the start of the awards. Suggest a story subject by emailing sports@thedailyjournal.ink
