THE Sportingbet CI Sports Personality of the Year awards at Beau Sejour, Guernsey tonight, again promises to be a celebration of achiement by islanders.

Bath Rugby and England Saxons winger Banahan (the holder of the 2007 title), Team Bath and England netballer Serena Guthrie and three-times British national badminton champion Cann will be vying with Guernsey’s four-times bowls world champion Alison Merrien and Commonwealth Youth Games gold medallist Heather Watson for the top 2008 prize.

It is the first time four women have made the final five. And it is a quality selection, with three of the five being former winners of the NatWest Rising Star category – Banahan, Guthrie and, last year, Watson. And Cann and Merrien have both been nominated for the main award before.

Past winners of the annual award, which is now into its seventh year, include Guernsey’s triple World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx, Olympian Dale Garland and Jersey’s transatlantic yachtsman Phil Sharp.

If you want to vote for your favourite sports star, these are the lines to call:

• Matt Banahan (rugby, Jersey)  0901 801 3240
• Liz Cann (badminton, Jersey) 0901 801 3241
• Serena Guthrie (netball, Jersey) 0901 801 3242
• Alison Merrien (bowls, Guernsey) 0901 801 3243
• Heather Watson (tennis, Guernsey) 0901 801 3244

(Phone calls cost 10p from local landlines and close this evening during the live broadcast. Sportingbet will match 10p with 10p, with proceeds going to disabled sport in the Channel Islands

Picture: Last year’s awards ceremony, from left: Andrew McIver, group chief executive Sportingbet; Derek de la Haye, assistant director Education, Sport and Culture in Jersey; and Graham Chester, sports development manager in Guernsey.