Thea LaFond, Tyler Mason win top honours at Dominica National Sports Awards

Dominica: Thea Lafond was recognised as the ‘Sportswoman of the Year’ and Tyler Mason was considered the ‘Sportsman of the Year’ at Dominica’s 12th National Sports Awards. The event was held in Portsmouth, Dominica on Saturday June 13th and organized by the Ministry of Culture, Youth, Sports and Community Development.

The theme for the night held at the InterContinental Dominica Cabrits Resort & Spa, was, “Passion, Resilience, Victory’. This ceremony marked the return of the National Sports Awards after a hiatus since 2017 due to the ruinous Hurricane Maria and recognized achievements from the 2025 sporting year.

A total of 37 awards were scheduled to be presented. These covered athletes, teams, clubs, associations, coaches, administrators, and other sports personalities. The purpose of the event was to honor outstanding performances and contributions to sports in Dominica during 2025.

The key decoration for the night was ‘Sportsperson of the Year’ which had two different awardees in different gender categories. The Sportswoman of the Year award was given to ‘Thea LaFond’ while ‘Tyler Mason’ was considered the Sportsman of the Year.

Thea’s award came as an appreciation for her many recent achievements ranging from Olympic gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics making her Dominica’s first-ever Olympic medalist, another gold in 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships to also silver in 2025 World Athletics Championships and 2022 Commonwealth Games. Covering many of the biggest milestones in Caribbean athletics history, she has become the most-celebrated athlete in the history of Dominica.

Mason’s achievements include bronze at the 2025 World Championships as well as 3rd position at the Silesia Diamond League meeting in 2023.

Other key recognitions include,’Special Olympic Athlete of the Year’ awarded to Raedian Felix as he has been “a source of inspiration to other athletes on island.” He won Bronze Medal in the 100m at the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games in Orlando, representing Dominica and was selected as a participant in the 2023 Special Olympics Global Athlete Congress in Berlin.

‘Groundsman of the Year 2025’ went to the deceased, Isaac Andre, whose award was received by his surviving wife and daughter. LeMyah Forde, who is currently on a football scholarship in the U.S., bagged the ‘Female Youth Athlete’ of the year while Earsinho Fontaine of Windward Islands has been awarded ‘Male Youth Athlete’ of the year.

The whole event was covered by the government and media channels, including DBS Radio, GIS Dominica, and Kairi FM. It was broadly organised to boost the athletes and sports volunteers of the island and revive the sporting culture in the region.