Florida Senior Games Awards Series Qualifiers Efforts
One of the highlights of the annual Florida Senior Series Workshop, which features representatives from the state’s 22 Florida Senior Games Series Qualifiers events, is the creative awards for event printed materials, t-shirts and website design and an award for participation from series qualifiers.
The Florida Sports Foundation hosted its 2016 Florida Senior Games Series Workshop Thursday, August 25, at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach and the 40 attendees at the Workshop voted for the following awards.
The Freshest Threads Award for the top T-Shirt Design was presented to the Golden Age Games, in Sanford. The blue/gray shirts featured a circular logo in the middle of the front of the shirt proclaiming the Forty First Annual Games Golden Age Games in 2015 “Home of the Nation’s Oldest Senior Games.”
Prior to accepting the award for the shirt proclaiming the Golden Age Games the Nation’s Oldest, Kim Eltonhead, the City of Sanford Senior Center Supervisor, told the attendees, the claim had been recently questioned. With the help of local archives showing proof of the Games dating back to 1974, she was able to fend off the doubters.
The Best Selling Award for the top Printed Material went to the Destin Emerald Coast Senior Games. The 2016 Destin Emerald Coast Senior Games informational brochure, registration information and sponsor banner featured an Olympic-style wreath and torch surrounded by the name of the event and silhouettes of athletes in action.
Destin is known as the “World’s Luckiest Fishing Village,” Senior Programs Coordinator Pat Markey said the 2017 Destin Emerald Coast Senior Games hopes to add Fishing to its roster of sports and events.
The Web Surfer’s Dream Award for the top Senior Games website was the Palm Coast and the Flagler Beaches Senior Games. With the 2016 Palm Coast and the Flagler Beaches Senior Games coming up September 10-18, the games website http://www.palmcoastgov.com/events/senior-games introduces the web surfer to the site with a featured photo of an athlete, sponsor logos, a recruitment video encouraging athletes to register, a registration form link, the schedule of events and contact info.
The 2015 Florida Senior Games in Clearwater featured over 2,000 athletes and the Good Life Games of Pinellas County had the highest ratio of qualifiers represented at the annual Games to earn “The Series Champion Award.”
“The staff members who organize and present the annual Florida Senior Games Series Qualifiers come up with some very creative ideas while sometimes working on a limited budget,” said Florida Sports Foundation Sr. Vice President Stephen Rodriguez. “We think their efforts should be recognized in front of their peers at the annual Florida Senior Games Series Workshop and show them how much their efforts are appreciated on a statewide level.”
The 25th Anniversary Florida Senior Games will be held December 3-11 in Clearwater with 24 sports offered. The 2016 Florida Senior Games are a qualifier for the 2017 National Senior Games, to be held June 2-15 in Birmingham, Alabama. Registration is now open for the 2016 Florida Senior Games at www.floridaseniorgames.com.