Usain Bolt, winner of the 100m (9.69), 200m (19.30) and member of Jamaica's 4x100m gold-medal team (37.10) - all in record times - heads the list of five men for the February 13 awards ceremony to be held at the Courtleigh Auditorium.

Melaine Walker, winner of the 400m hurdles gold in an Olympic and national record 52.64 seconds, Veronica Campbell-Brown, who repeated her Athens 200m success with a personal best 21.74, along with Fraser's 10.78, the second fastest time by a Jamaican and the country's first gold medal winner in the women's 100m event, head the female section.

Jerome Taylor, who took 24 wickets in six Test matches at an average of 29.79 and scored a century - 106 off 107 balls against New Zealand - Luton Shelton, scorer of seven goals for Jamaica in the World Cup qualifying, and Asafa Powell, who anchored Jamaica to a world record 37.10 in the men's 4x100m relay at the Olympics, are Bolt's main rivals.

Chris Gayle, who scored 451 Test runs with a top score of 197 against New Zealand, is the other nominee.

Women nominees

On the women's side, Shericka Williams, who produced a 49.69 personal best for silver in the women's 400m, Sherone Simpson, who shared the women's 100m silver with Kerron Stewart - who later took bronze in the 200m, along with Stephanie Taylor, the Jamaica and West Indies cricketer, have also been nominated.

Five athletes are listed for the People's Choice Performance of the Year, an addition to the award's function this year.

Fraser's 10.78 Olympic effort, Taylor's 106 runs against New Zealand, Ricardo Fuller's goal against Mexico in World Cup qualifying and Daemon Benjamin's goal for Boys' Town against Arnett Gardens have been adjudged the best performances of 2008.

According to the criteria for this new section: 1. The performance must be by a national of Jamaica 2. The performance must be a specific or single event (that is, not an accumulation of performance) 3. The performance must exhibit a high or special degree of technical and/or athletic difficulty 4.

Video footage

The performance should not be in isolation, be sufficient to be considered for nomination as Sportsman or Sportswoman of the Year 5. Because of the need for voting by the public, it is highly preferable that suitable video footage of the performance is available.

Quizzed about criteria and the fact that Fraser and Taylor have been nominated for both sections, Chris Dehring, chairman of the RJR Sports Foundation, said: "One of the criteria the selection committee would have looked on was whether or not an individual performance, in and of itself, in isolation, would have been enough to catapult this person to potentially be Sportsman or Sportswoman of the Year, or even winning either of those awards."

He used Fraser as an example, saying the fact that Jamaica did not necessarily expect her to win made her performance special because of the circumstances.

"Also, taken in isolation, in this particular year where there were other gold medal winners ... I wouldn't necessarily make Shelly-Ann a shoo-in or a strong candidate or guarantee for nomination," he said.

"So all that would be taken into consideration."

The public can vote for the Performance of the Year via text, details of which will be published in The Gleaner, the print media partner of the RJR Sports Foundation.