has gone to a player from a team sport.

Clay Smith, who captained St. George's to a Cup Match victory and stunned international cricket with his performance at the Red Stripe Bowl last October, was last night honoured at the gala presentation at the Hamilton Princess.

Smith received four out of the five first place votes and was second in the other to edge sprinter Troy Douglas in balloting that took place on January 10.

And sailor Paula Lewin, who received the inaugural Female Athlete of the Year Award last year, retained her title last night.

Smith's win ended the five-year reign of triple jumper Brian Wellman and came over the man who may have been the victim of a political backlash.

Douglas, a three-time Olympic 200-metre semi-finalist coming off his best year, possibly turned the five voting members of the committee against him when last fall he said he was going to race for Holland in 1998.

Douglas, who was not present last night, was instead one of nine men to receive Annual Achievement Awards.

Smith leaped into prominence by hitting unbeaten centuries six days apart against some of the world's top bowlers at Melbourne Cricket Club in Jamaica.

Among those he batted against were current West Indies Test team members Courtney Walsh, Franklyn Rose and Nixon McLean.

Other batsmen in the tournament, such as Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, could not match his totals of 101 (against Windward Islands) and 100 (against Jamaica).

Smith said last night he got extra satisfaction by watching many of those same players on television in the current West Indies v England second Test. But never did he think that would translate into the Athlete of the Year Award.

"It was a big surprise,'' he said. "I was thinking I might get one of the sports citations or achievement awards but I never thought I'd get the big one.'' Smith said he was "dedicating'' the award to the Bermuda Cricket Board of the Control for their getting Bermuda into the Red Stripe Bowl in the first place.

Lewin also dedicated her award -- to her three team-mates (sister Peta, Leatrice Roman, and, the newest, Lisa Neasham) who compete with her on the world sailing circuit. "I couldn't do it without them,'' she said (to which Roman replied, "We couldn't do it without her.)'' A string of strong performances left Lewin ranked number one in Women's International Match Racing rankings and 27th overall against a field that includes some of the world's finest skippers, including Peter Gilmour and Russ Coutts.

Consistently one of the top finishers in international and domestic regattas, she will represent Bermuda in the first Women's World Championship in Dubai next month.

But Lewin was one of only two women honoured last night among a total of 21 winners and she didn't lose the impact of what her second straight award meant to Bermudians as a whole.

"It's nice to be recognised but that's not what this is about,'' she said.

"It's more important in terms of exposure and showing what women can do.'' In addition to Douglas and Wellman, others receiving achievement awards were: Olympic luger Patrick Singleton, sailor Penny Simmons and the national cross-country team of Jay Donawa, Mike Watson, Tracy Wright, Jamal Hart and Calvin Steede.

AWARDS WINNERS Athlete of the Year Male -- Clay Smith Female -- Paula Lewin Special Achievement Award Philip Guishard Achievement Award Troy Douglas, Brian Wellman, Eugene (Penny) Simmons, Albert (Jay) Donawa, Michael Watson, Tracy Wright, Jamal Hart, Calvin Steede, Patrick Singleton Sports Citation Roddy Burchall, Randy Butler, Jeff Payne, Kyle Lightbourne, Campbell Simons Appreciation Award Radio Society of Bermuda, Wolves Football Club Special Recognition Award Dr. Paddy Heslop, Dafydd Hermann-Smith, Jennifer Tufts TOP PRIZE -- Clay Smith and Paula Lewin hold their trophies after being named Male and Female Athletes of the Year last night.

GOVERNMENT GVT SAILING SLG CRICKET CRI