English archer Danielle Brown (pictured) was honoured at the prestigious 29th annual Commonwealth Sports Awards at the International Convention Centre (ICC).

Danielle, who became the first disabled athlete ever to compete for England in an able-bodied event in India, won the Outstanding Female Athlete with Disability award while fellow disabled English archer and Paralympic gold medallist John Stubbs was awarded Outstanding Male Athlete with Disability.

The event saw the cream of Commonwealth sporting talent honoured with the 24-year-old world's fastest man Bolt claiming Outstanding Male Athlete and world heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis picking up Outstanding Female Athlete.

Mike Fennell, the President of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), praised the winners, although neither were present to accept their award personally and instead joined the event via a video-link.

He said: "I am delighted to participate in this special awards dinner at the Commonwealth Games Sports Awards for 2010.

"Congratulations to all the awardees for this year.

"These awards were started by the indefatigable Al Hamilton some 30 years ago.

"He has persisted against great odds to ensure their continuance.

"It is so important that we recognise the achievements of our Commonwealth athletes and there is so much to be proud of.

"In October this year we witnessed the very successful staging of the XIX Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India and once again the world saw athletes in 17 sports from 71 countries and territories including Para athletes.

"We now eagerly anticipate the XXth Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014."

There was also the inauguration of two new awards in Birmingham as Sunday Times journalist Nick Pitt of England and Jamaica's Tony Becca of the Gleanor shared the Outstanding Sports Writer prize while David Moorcroft, the chief executive of UK Athletics, picked up the new Leaders Award.

Hamilton told insidethegames: "What a fantastic evening.

"After much apprehension and controversy, ash clouds descended over Delhi with allegations of compound corruption by officials plus no shows by some athletes.

"This has not been the best year for the 'Commonwealth Brand' but we realise the need to re-connect, resuscitate, re-educate and re-evaluate this long standing legacy of sports, language, music culture, law arts and politics.

"It is incumbent that greater interaction between the custodians of this unique entity and stakeholders are regularly reviewed, with an emphasis to encourage the youth, which should be our Modus Operandi.

"We must not procrastinate, now is the moment for 'all hands on deck' with a robust, relentless resolve while we redefine the virtues of our Commonwealth."

The Commonwealth Sports Awards is the first of two major sporting ceremonies coming to Birmingham in 2010 with the city also set to host the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards next month for the first time since 2007.

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