The 37th edition of SPORTEL Awards took place on Monday 19 October at the Grimaldi Forum Monaco, under the High Patronage of H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco. Champions, sporting personalities and sports media professionals came together to celebrate the year’s best sports productions and their creators.
Nearly 150 programmes were submitted to this year’s international competition. Following the selection process, 26 works from seven countries were selected across seven categories, ranging from slow motion to documentaries, biopics and docu-series, as well as sports features, advertising and books. The selection reflects the diversity of formats and approaches to telling the stories of sport around the world today.
Champions and sporting personalities gathered on the red carpet before taking their seats in the Salle Prince Pierre for the Golden Podiums and Sports Book Prize Renaud de Laborderie ceremony.
Hosted by Marc Maury, the ceremony brought some of the year’s most memorable sporting images to the big screen, featuring performances, portraits of champions and human stories.
Alongside the jury members, numerous champions took part in the award presentations, including Steven Da Costa, Capucine Delannoy, Mickaël Gelabale, Ali Traoré, Jean-Luc Ettori, Madosh Tambwe, Ryan Zézé, Tony Yoka, Anaïs Bourgoin and Léa Casta. Yvette Lambin-Berti, Secretary General of the Monaco Olympic Committee, Louis Ducruet, President of Les Barbagiuans de Monaco, and Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, President of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee, also took part in the award presentations, illustrating the ties between SPORTEL Awards, institutions and the sports movement.
Among the personalities attending this year’s edition, Steve Mandanda, a 2018 World Cup winner and an iconic figure in French football, was presented with the Autobiography Award by H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco for Les jours d’après, co-written with journalist Mathieu Coureau. Following a professional career spanning more than twenty years, the former France goalkeeper candidly describes leaving elite sport, losing his bearings and building a new life after football.
The evening also featured entertainment from the Monaco All Stars. Around ten athletes gave two performances created especially for the ceremony, combining lifts and acrobatic moves between the award presentations.
A Jury Bringing Together Sport and Images
Sonny Anderson chaired this year’s jury, bringing together champions and sports media professionals to judge the works in the Official Selection.
The former Brazilian striker was joined by Kilian Bron, an enduro and freeride mountain biker and filmmaker; Siraba Dembélé-Pavlović, a World and European handball champion; Julien Doucet, Executive Creative Director at BUZZMAN; Nicolas Nkoulou, a professional footballer and Champion of Peace for Peace and Sport; Lisa Pou, a Monégasque open-water swimmer and World Championship medallist; and Catherine Steenkeste, a sports photographer.
Their task: to recognise productions that convey sporting performance as well as the power of a story, a perspective or a moment captured on camera.
The SPORTEL Awards at the Heart of Sportel Monaco
The 2026 edition also reflects a commitment to strengthening the ties between SPORTEL Awards and SPORTEL Monaco, held concurrently at the Grimaldi Forum. Several broadcasters, producers and industry players represented in the competition also take part in the professional market, creating a natural connection between those who produce, broadcast and promote sports content and the champions it features.
This complementary relationship also supports the competition’s evolution. While preserving the DNA established by Georges Bertellotti around sport, images and emotion, the SPORTEL Awards aim to continue embracing new forms of storytelling and new formats that are transforming the way sport is portrayed.
Marine Picoulet, Executive Director of SPORTEL Awards – SPORTEL Monaco:
“This edition reminded us of the strength of SPORTEL Awards: bringing athletes and sports media professionals together around the most powerful images and emotions that sport has to offer. This year, we also wanted to place the SPORTEL Awards firmly at the heart of SPORTEL Monaco and strengthen the ties between the competition and the professional market. Our ambition is to continue developing formats and forms of storytelling while remaining true to the DNA established by Georges Bertellotti.”
