Tiger Woods. Kelly Holmes. Tom Brady. Serena Williams. These are some of the biggest names in the world of sport. But we’d know little about these international athletes if it weren’t for the journalists that cover their triumphs and tribulations.

But thanks to a recent award ceremony hosted in the capital, some of the world’s top sports journalists have been recognised for their work.

The Sport Media Pearl Awards, the first international award dedicated to sport journalism, aimed to celebrate the industry’s “unsung heroes”, the men and women who share the drama of sport with fans around the world, and create a new generation of journalistic talent.

The awards welcomed famous faces including Italian footballer Alessandro Del Piero, NBA star Yao Ming and Olympic gold medalist Jonathan Edwards who hosted the event and joined the judging panel.

A six-month process saw over 700 submissions whittled down to three finalists in nine categories including photography, weblog, writing and sport for a better world. The selection committee was led by AIPS (International Sports Press Association) president Gianni Merlo.

Speaking about the awards, Gianni said: “The journey to the ceremony has been exhilarating. It has been an absolute privilege to study the incredible work of so many talented journalists in all forms of sport media. The Sport Media Pearl Awards proves that the passion to tell the story of sport is as strong as ever.”

Winners of the awards included Ricardo Erick (Granma, Cuba) in the photography category; Fiifi Anaman (allsports.com.gh, Ghana) in the writing category and Stefan Nestler (dw.com, Germany) in the weblog category.

For a list of all the winning finalists, visit: sportmediapearlawards.com