gsport went looking for a crew, and South Africa answered. Over four weeks the platform carried a code in every edition of the weekly gsport Newsletter, one word at a time, until the four words spelled out a single phrase and a single invitation:
#WeBuildThisStage
The application window opened, the entries arrived, and gsport now holds a strong and encouraging response from people across the country who want to help build the 21st gsport Awards in August.
The numbers matter less than the mix. Among the applicants are students taking their first steps into event production, working professionals offering up their evenings and weekends, and seasoned specialists who have built careers in broadcast, design and live events.
A handful asked to be considered for paid specialist work. Many more simply offered their time. What they share is a willingness to stand behind South Africa’s sportswomen and to do the unseen work that turns a plan into a night.
That willingness is why gsport is turning its attention to June. South Africa marks Youth Month through June, a period that asks the country to invest in its young people and to open doors that might otherwise stay closed. gsport intends to use the month to do exactly that.
Rather than simply slotting names into a roster, the platform will spend Youth Month considering each person who indicated they are ready to volunteer and beginning to train them for the work that lies ahead.
The plan is practical. Volunteers who put up their hands will be matched to the areas where they can grow, from content and social media production to stage and floor management, photography, design, hospitality and the backstage coordination that holds an event together.
Those who are new to live production will be paired with experienced hands, so that the run-up to August doubles as a learning experience, and the Awards crew becomes a place where skills are passed on rather than simply bought in.
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Building on past experience, Awards teams have included university students cutting their teeth on a national platform, established broadcasters lending their voice to the night, and designers and photographers whose work has gone on to shape the gsport visual identity.
Alongside them have always been the quiet operators whose names never appear on a screen, the runners, drivers, ushers and coordinators without whom the night simply does not happen. The crew has always been a mix of the experienced and the emerging, and Youth Month gives gsport the chance to grow the next layer of it on purpose.
This is consistent with what gsport has always done. Since 2006, the platform has worked to make South African sportswomen visible, and the Awards are the night that work builds towards. Behind every televised moment sits a team of people who lit the stage, cut the highlight reel, briefed the presenters, and walked nominees to their seats. By developing that team during Youth Month, gsport extends its mission beyond the athletes it celebrates to the young South Africans who may one day run nights like this one themselves.
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The timing fits a natural handover. Public nominations for the 2026 gsport Awards closed on 31 May 2026 at gsport.co.za, with the public having named the women and men they believe deserve recognition across every category that makes up the night. With the nominations now in, attention turns to building the night itself, and Youth Month becomes the window in which the crew that will stage it is considered and trained.
For those who applied, the message from gsport is a simple one. You have been heard, and the next step is training, not waiting. For those who did not, the door has not closed. gsport continues to welcome people who believe they belong on the team and encourages anyone still interested to subscribe to the gsport Newsletter at gsport.co.za and to watch for the next call.
Two decades in, the Awards still run on the people who build them. This Youth Month, gsport starts building the people too.
Main Photo Caption: gsport drew a strong response to its call for crew on the 21st gsport Awards and turns to Youth Month to consider and train the volunteers who stepped forward, growing the next generation of event production talent. Graphic: gsport
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