THE public have voted in their thousands for the men, women, children and groups they believe should win sporting gold.

The Sportsperson of the Year Awards recognise the excellence and achievements of Glasgow and Scotland's sporting heroes.

This year, the public was able to vote in 10 categories for the groups and individuals they believe should be recognised.

And a further four awards winners have been selected by city leaders.

The winner of the Lord Provost's Award will be selected by Sadie Docherty and the Leader's Special Award will be chosen by council leader Gordon Matheson.

They will be announced at the awards event later this month along with the Glasgow Sports Person of the Year and overall Sports Person of the Year.

This year there are Evening Times awards for Disabled Athlete, Young Sports Person, Primary School, Secondary School and Volunteer of the Year.

Robert Conway, Sammi Kinghorn and Aileen McGlynn have been shortlisted in the disabled athlete category.

Aileen is a Scottish Paralympic tandem cyclist who won silver medals in the sprint and kilo at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Robert, who is registered blind, has been involved in bowls since 1990 and has gone on to win a host of Scottish, UK and world championships.

Sammi, 18, is a member of Red Star Athletics Club and has set national records in all distances on the track.

The shortlist in the Young Sports Person category is made up of Mathew Grimley, James Coulter and Catriona Graves.

James, 16, who attends Whitehills Secondary in the East End is a member of the Scottish karate squad and is currently ranked number three in the world.

Catriona, 17, is a member of Garscube Harriers, current Scottish champion for cross country for a third time in a row, junior road champion and hill running champion.

Matthew, 14, attends Glasgow School of Sport and is a high profile player in Scottish badminton achieving great results among many of Europe's top players.

Primary schools to make the shortlist are Kelvindale in the West End, Oakgrove near St George's Cross and St Thomas on Smithycroft Road which all offer a wide range of sports.

The secondary schools in the running are St Mungo's Academy in the East End and Whitehill Secondary in Dennistoun which also actively promote sport.

Contenders for volunteer of the year are Maria Gibson, Tony Hall and James O'Brien.

James is heavily involved with Whitacres Community Academy which last year won the Evening Times Community Champion sports award.

Tony is vice president of Garscube Harriers and is a key member of the committee and junior coaching team.

Maria has overseen the transformation of Dynamite Gymnastics Club in Yoker thanks to enthusiasm and hard work and seen membership more than double.

Among the other award hopefuls is Scottish swimmer Michael Jamieson who won the silver medal in the 200 metre breaststroke at the 2012 summer Olympics.

Gordon Matheson, leader of Glasgow City Council, said: "It's been a little over six months since Glasgow hosted the best ever Commonwealth Games - the biggest celebration of sport that Scotland has seen.

"The city shone on the global stage with Team Scotland producing their best ever performance, winning a record number of medals in front of capacity crowds in our world-class venues.

"The Sports Person of the Year Awards will give us the chance to officially celebrate the success of Glasgow's Games and the sportsmen and women who were at its heart.

"At the same time we will recognise those who make such a difference to sport at a grassroots level - the volunteers, coaches and schools who do so much to develop sport in communities across our city."

Evening Times assistant editor Graham Shields said: "The awards are a celebration of Glasgow's fantastic year of sport.

"The Commonwealth Games in the summer highlighted how important sport is to the city and we are glad so many people decided to have their say on their sporting heroes.

"These awards are in recognition of sporting involvement and achievement at every level, from the grass roots to the greatest sporting performances of the year."

The awards will be presented at a glittering ceremony in the City Chambers on Friday February 27.