The award will be made at a black-tie event attended by sporting stars

The Swalec Stadium in Cardiff will host this year's BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year.

The awards evening will be on Sunday with coverage on BBC Two Wales, 2W and Radio Wales from 2100-2215 GMT.

The ceremony also honours team of the year, unsung hero, junior sportsman and woman and lifetime achievement.

In a bumper year of accolades, Wales had three Olympic gold medallists in cyclists Nicole Cooke and Geraint Thomas, plus rower Tom James.

Swimmer David Roberts also triumphed in Beijing, taking four golds to bring his all-time Paralympics haul to 11 golds.

Joe Calzaghe - who has won this award the last two years - cemented his place as one of boxing's all-time greats by stepping up from the super-middleweight division he ruled for more than a decade to beat American greats Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr at light-heavyweight.

Also shortlisted for the title is rugby wing Shane Williams, who spearheaded Wales' march to a second Grand Slam in four years with six tries, and Wales' record try-scorer won the IRB international player of the year accolade.

Dame Tanni-Grey Thompson, who won BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year three times and who is one of the presenters for 2008, said it would be difficult to guess who would win this time.

"It has been just such a good year for Welsh sport," she said.

"Most years you can pretty much guess who will be the main winner, but this year it's going to be quite tight. I'm just glad I'm not deciding who wins."

Voting for this award is now closed. The BBC Wales Sports Personality 2008 award is not connected with the UK BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

Follow the links for the six shortlisted athletes to read their full profiles and achievements:

Joe Calzaghe

Nicole Cooke

Tom James

David Roberts

Geraint Thomas

Shane Williams

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