William Hill Sports Book of the Year
The William Hill Sports Book of the Year is an annual British literary award sponsored by bookmakers William Hill.[1] It claims to be "the world's richest sports book prize"[2] at £22,000 (as of 2010). The award is dedicated to rewarding excellence in sports writing and was first awarded in 1989.[3]
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Commenting on the prizes prestige, "Although it is a sports book prize, it has the prestige and the commercial clout to lift the winning book out of the sport section", said Gary Imlach who won in 2005.[4] Other sports writing and book prizes include the PEN/ESPN Lifetime Achievement Award for Literary Sports Writing, CASEY Award, the Jerry Malloy Book Prize, the Seymour Medal, and the SPORTELMonaco Best Illustrated Sports Book.[1][5]
The same panel of judges is used each year, chaired by John Gaustad, the founder of the Sportspages bookshop on Charing Cross Road, and including broadcaster John Inverdale and acclaimed sportswriter Hugh McIlvanney. In its early years the prize was presented in the Sportspages bookshop each November; however Sportspages went out of business at the end of 2005 and the prize moved elsewhere.
[edit] History
The first award was held in 1989, when Dan Topolski's book about one of the most controversial University Boat Races was declared the winner.
The status of the award, and of sports books generally, were enhanced greatly in 1992 when Nick Hornby's first novel, Fever Pitch, took first prize. Both Fever Pitch and True Blue: The Oxford Boat Race Mutiny have subsequently been adapted into feature-length motion pictures. In the first 21 years of the award, only two writers, Donald McRae, in 1996 and 2002, Duncan Hamilton, in 2007 and 2009, have won the William Hill award more than once. Unsurprisingly, given cricket writers' often literary aspirations and the appetite for books on cricket, by 2010 the summer game had been the subject of the prize-winning book six times in 22 years.
The award has not been without controversy. In 2000, the award went for the first time to a "ghosted" book, Lance Armstrong's It's Not About The Bike. At the time, some observed the irony of the award going to the American Tour de France winner, when, in 1990, Paul Kimmage's stern critique of doping in cycling, Rough Ride, had been declared the winner.
The judges' choice in 2006, Geoffrey Ward's Unforgivable Blackness, was criticised [6] because it had been first published in 2004.
In 2010, Duncan Hamilton, a winner twice in the previous three years, was again included in the short-list,[7] although on this occasion, when the award was announced on November 30 in London, the prize was won by Brian Moore, the former England rugby union international, for his autobiography, Beware of the Dog. [8]
2011 was another controversial year with a last minute addition to the shortlist of Engage: The Fall and Rise of Matt Hampson, a biography of quadriplegic Matt Hampson, by 1990 winner Paul Kimmage, despite it not being included on the longlist.[9] The shortlist also included a book on bullfighting, Into The Arena: The World of the Spanish Bullfight by Alexander Fiske-Harrison, despite journalists including Fiske-Harrison himself arguing that bullfighting was not a sport, leading to the employment of security for the first time at the ceremony at Waterstones of Piccadilly.[10] In the end the prize went to A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke, about Robert Enke who committed suicide, by Ronald Reng.[11]
[edit] Winners
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Neal Wyatt. The Readers' Advisory Guide to Nonfiction, ALA Editions, 2007. pg. 118
- ^ Official site
- ^ Raymond Boyle, Richard Haynes. Power play: sport, the media and popular culture, Edinburgh University Press, 2009. pg.180
- ^ "William Hill Sports Book of the Year", The Times, November 21, 2008
- ^ SPORTELMonaco Best Illustrated Sports Book.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ "From Agassi to Nazi, via “gonzo”: prize’s mixed bag « Sports Journalists' Association". Sportsjournalists.co.uk. http://www.sportsjournalists.co.uk/other-bodies/rugby-writers/from-agassi-to-nazi-via-gonzo-book-prizes-mixed-bag/. Retrieved 2011-11-28.
- ^ "Moore’s raw autobiography takes Bookies’ Prize « Sports Journalists' Association". Sportsjournalists.co.uk. 2010-12-01. http://www.sportsjournalists.co.uk/other-bodies/rugby-writers/moores-raw-autobiography-takes-bookies-prize/. Retrieved 2011-11-28.
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/nov/28/william-hill-sports-book-year-winner
- ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/8916880/To-the-Spanish-bullfighting-is-much-more-than-a-sport.html
- ^ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2067217/Robert-Enke-book-wins-William-Hill-Sports-Book-Year-Award.html
- ^ Previous winners
