FAS issues apology for 'oversight' in nominations for 'Story of the Year' award
"I deeply regret any confusion or inconvenience this oversight would have caused for you and your team," said FAS director of corporate communications Mustaffa Ehsan.
FILE PHOTO: The Football Association of Singapore logo is seen on a stand at the Singapore Sports Hub. (Photo: Facebook/Football Association of Singapore)
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SINGAPORE: The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) on Tuesday (Nov 21) apologised for what it said was an "oversight" in the compiling of submissions for its annual "Story of the Year" award.
This comes two days before the award is to be handed out at the FAS annual awards night. Two nominations from the original list were removed, to be replaced by two new ones.
In an email addressed to the media, FAS director of corporate communications Mustaffa Ehsan said that there had been an error with the inclusion of a story that did not "align with the original submission criteria".
"We acknowledge that all media outlets were explicitly instructed to submit stories related to the Singapore Premier League (SPL) exclusively, and each organisation was limited to one entry," he said.
"Unfortunately, due to a human mistake during the compilation process, an entry outside of the SPL scope was included and in addition, more than one submission from the same organisation was shortlisted for the final three."
As a result, FAS retracted two nominations - "Singapore footballer joins Borussia Dortmund women's team, puts studies on hold to pursue career" by CNA's Aslam Iskhandar Shah and Fabian Koh; and "I feel like a kid again: Izwan Mahbud back and ready to rediscover old groove'" by Lion City Sailors' Kenneth Tan - were retracted and replaced by two submissions which had been "assessed and graded by the judging panel for this award", said Mr Ehsan.
He added that the two initial nominations were retracted "in the spirit of fairness" to the other media outlets which had abided by the original criteria specified.
"I have personally reached out to the individuals from both CNA (Broadcast) and Lion City Sailors to explain and apologise for this unfortunate incident and they have accepted both the explanation and my apology," said Mr Ehsan.
"I thank them for their graciousness and kind understanding as they were not at fault at all in this situation."
He added that the error was "entirely unintentional" and in no way reflects a lack of commitment to the guidelines of the 2023 FAS Awards Night.
"The judging process for the Story of The Year category was conducted with the utmost integrity, focusing solely on the merit of the content submitted and without knowledge of the origins of each submission, in order to ensure full impartiality. The judging panel had submitted their respective tabulated scores for all of the submissions directly to the FAS and without any prior discussion with each other," he said.
"The oversight which occurred during the compilation of submissions did not impact the fair assessment of the stories, and each entry was evaluated based on its individual merit within the context of the Singapore Premier League."
Mr Ehsan said he was taking steps to address the error and that the eligibility criteria will also be relooked to ensure a "broader and more accurate representation" that reflects Singapore football.
"I understand the importance of upholding the integrity and transparency of such prestigious awards, and I deeply regret any confusion or inconvenience this oversight would have caused for you and your team," he said.
To rectify this situation, I am taking steps to address the error and ensure that such oversights do not occur in future events. Additionally, I will be implementing enhanced quality control measures during the submission compilation process to safeguard against similar mistakes."
This is not the first time a local sports governing body in Singapore has made a mistake with a journalism-related award.
In 2019, Sport Singapore (SportSG) apologised for an error that resulted in the wrong person receiving the Sports Journalist of the Year award following an "administrative error" by a member of the SportSG staff.
