WINNERS ANNOUNCED FOR BRITISH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2014!

May 21, 2014

Former tennis ace, Jimmy Connors, was among the night’s winners at the British Sports Book Awards 2014. His hard-hitting autobiography, THE OUTSIDER, won the Autobiography/Biography of the Year category at the prestigious awards, now in their 12th year. Connor’s win was announced during a star-studded event held at Lord’s Cricket Ground and hosted by Test Match Special’s, Jonathan Agnew. On hearing the news, Connors said, ‘Writing the book was hard but it was a real pleasure and an experience I’ll never forget. It is great to receive this award’.

Michael Calvin’s THE NOWHERE MEN, which looks at the world of footballs’ talent spotters, won the Football Book of the Year, in a closely fought contest, beating off strong competition from Guillem Balague, Sid Lowe and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, among others. THE GREAT TAMASHA, James Astill’s account of cricket and corruption in modern India, won the Cricket Book of the Year. Other award winners were Brough Scott for HENRY CECIL: TRAINER OF GENIUS, which won the Horse Racing Book of the Year, and Simon Halliday, who won Rugby Book of the Year for his candid autobiography, CITY CENTRE.

The Outstanding Sports Writing Award went to Harriet Tuckey for EVEREST: THE FIRST ASCENT, about her father, Griffith Pugh; while the New Writer of the Year award was won by Tim Lewis for his inspiring story of the Rwandan cycling team, LAND OF SECOND CHANCES, INCREDIBLE WAVES: An Appreciation of Perfect Surf by Chris Power won the Best Illustrated Book of the Year.

All eight individual category winners will now be put to an online public vote to determine the Overall British Sports Book of the Year. The public vote will be held on the official website, www.britishsportsbookawards.co.uk, with the winner announced in June.


The final two awards of the night were Best Publicity Campaign which went to Karen Geary and Rebecca Mundy at Hodder for their promotion of Sir Alex Ferguson’s autobiography, and Best Retailer won by Waterstones.