NEW YORK (JIS), Thursday, January 10, 2008 - Olympic and World Track & Field Championship gold medalist Veronica Campbell-Brown and WC silver medalist Maurice Smith, both of Jamaica, West Indies, head a list of local and international personalities who will be recognized for their outstanding performances in sports for 2007 at a luncheon ceremony in New York on Sunday, February 03, 2008.

Campbell-Brown (Sprints & Relay) and Smith (Decathlon), who anchored Jamaica’s record breaking team performance at last year’s WC in Track & Field Athletics in Osaka, Japan, will be presented with the International Sports Awards (ISA) Outstanding Sportswoman and Sportsman trophies, respectively, by the Island Games Organization (IGO), during ceremonies at Verdi’s of Westbury, Long Island.

ISA citations will also be presented to two New York area personalities; Dalton Evans, head Track & Field Coach at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn and Athletes Liaison/USA with the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA) and Lenroy Raffington, Track & Field Girls Coach at Hempstead High School, an emerging power in high school athletics in the Northeast USA.

The lunchtime ceremonies which will also double as the launch of the Third Annual staging of the Island Games in Track & Field Athletics (IG) - set for Sunday, June 8, 2008, at the Mitchell Field Athletic Complex, Uniondale - caps a big weekend in sports for New York area residents that includes the annual Millrose Games (Indoors) at Madison Square Gardens, Manhattan, on Friday, February 1, 2008.

Founder of the IG, Patrick Payne said that the IGO is hoping to duplicate the success of last year’s awards which cited a number of local and international personalities and organizations for outstanding achievement in two sporting disciplines – Track & Field Athletics and Soccer – including Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson of the MVP Track Organization.

According to Payne, “while the IGO spotlights the high achievers, it is also necessary to recognize some of the individuals who are working tirelessly behind the scenes in preparing our athletes to be able to compete at such a high standard wherever and whenever”.

Proceeds from the IGO luncheon will go towards funding the participation of athletes from the Caribbean at this year’s Island Games.