The Awards
Anniversary Celebrations for the British Sports Book Awards
The British Sports Book Awards will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year in style with a black tie dinner at the prestigious Savoy Hotel in London on 21st May. The star studded event will celebrate the very best in sports book publishing from the last year with new awards being added to the line up.
David Willis, Chairman of the British Sports Book Awards, is delighted to announce a special award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Sports Writing’ that will be presented this year to Nick Hornby, author of the ground-breaking memoir ‘Fever Pitch’.
“The tenth anniversary of the British Sports Book Awards in 2012 also marks the twentieth anniversary of Nick Hornby’s memoir ‘Fever Pitch’ which altered perceptions about the value and importance of sport in relationships and within society as a whole. It emphasised that supporting a football team could have psychological and social benefits to both individuals and communities and demonstrated that being a sports fan is good for us.” – David Willis
Nick Hornby will be at the dinner on 21st May to accept his award and has issued this statement:
“When you write a book, you can only really hope that people read it and like it, and that it stays around for as long as possible. ‘Fever Pitch’ is now twenty years old, and it means a lot to me that those who care about sports literature want to recognise it in this way.”
Two new category awards will also be added this year – for the best Golf and MotorSport books of the year joining existing awards for best football, cricket, rugby and horse racing books. The best illustrated book, best new writer and best biography awards will also be presented on 21st May.
Click here to see the 2012 Shortlists.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the awards, the organisers are negotiating for highlights from the awards ceremony to be televised on SkySportsTV in an exciting programme full of sports stars and book award winners. It is anticipated that a 30 minute programme will be shown on Friday 25th May then repeated throughout the weekend of 26th/27th May. The ceremony and programme will be hosted by Natalie Pinkham (SkySports TV) and Rishi Persad (BBC TV Sport).
Growing in partnership
In addition to a team of dedicated judges, the Sports Book Awards relies upon the commercial support of a number of loyal partners. We would like to thank Skysports, Ladbrokes, Littlehampton Book Services, The Times, Getty Images, Littlehampton Book Services, Simon & Schuster, Stoke Park, Arbuthnot Latham and The Foundation for Sports and the Arts.
Nick Hornby photo: Sigrid Estrada
