The 1st of June 2016 saw the annual British Sports Book Awards, celebrating the best of British Sports Writing from the previous calendar year.
Myself I am really into motorsports so I have been eager to find out who from the world of motor racing (mainly F1) was shortlisted and who were the winners. I have now made a note of books I’d like to read, ready to purchase when I next pop into town.
To celebrate the Cross Sports Book Awards I have teamed up with them to run a special giveaway where you can win 7 of the books which were nominated into this years awards ceremony. To find out more please read the press release below and enter the giveaway at the bottom.
SKYS THE LIMIT AS PAIR WIN AT CROSS SPORTS BOOK AWARDS
Sky Sports Guillem Balague and Ronda Rousey both collected awards at the Cross Sports Book Awards as winners across 10 categories were announced.
Ronaldo and My Fight, Your Fight won Barclays Football Book of the Year and Cross International Autobiography of the Year respectively.
The ceremony, which took place at Lord’s on June 1, capped a successful week for the Real Madrid forward following his nail-biting win in the Champions League on Saturday. Balague’s behind-the-scenes biography charts Ronaldo’s from a young winger at Sporting Lisbon to his career under Alex Ferguson at Manchester United before his £80m record-breaking transfer in 2009.
Balague, who covers Spanish Football for Sky Sports as well as a host of other publications, was proud to win the award, if not a little surprised.
“I’m overjoyed to win the award in a strong field. I’ve been nominated three times before and I’m happy to take home the Barclays Football Book of the Year prize for 2016.”
The former UFC Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey won the Cross International Autobiography of the Year in its debut year. Although Rousey couldn’t attend the ceremony itself, her co-writer and sister Maria Burns Ortiz attended the awards on her behalf.
Maria was proud to win the award and said:
“I, Ronda and the team are so excited and honoured that this book resonated across Britain and we’re proud to win the award.
“We wanted to write a book that would make an impression with a wide audience and we’re so happy it achieved that.”
A.T. Cross CEO Robert Baird, who helped judge the inaugural Cross International Autobiography of the Year alongside, said that choosing Rousey as the eventual winner was an easy task:
“Rousey was the unanimous victor. Her narrative is as turbulent as [Rousey’s] life. It felt like being hit by one of her deadly left hooks.”
The Sky Sports contingent was completed by Balague’s colleague and Cross Sports Book Awards host Mike Wedderburn, who presented awards to all ten categories winners and was joined by Alison Mitchell.
Alongside Rousey and Balague, Max Mosley was crowned the Cross Autobiography of the Year winner for his book Formula One and Beyond, following in the footsteps of 2015 Autobiography of the Year winner Gareth Thomas.
The former FIA president was selected by Judges Brian and Belinda Moore, Lawrence Dallaglio, Beth Tweddle, Manish Bhasin and Alison Kervin as the winner and finished ahead of five other nominees, including world champions Nigel Mansell and Steve Davis, Steven Gerrard, David Lloyd and Sir Anthony McCoy.
Mosley was joined by former UFC Champion Ronda Rousey as she took home the Cross International Autobiography of the Year in its debut year.
Mosley, who revolutionised safety in motorsport, was thrilled to collect the prestigious prize.
Mosley was joined by Commonwealth Gold Medallist David Millar, who won the Cycling Book of the Year prize in its second year.
Dave Millar’s autobiography gives a rarely seen view of a pro-cyclist on the road and was commended by judges Martin Johnson, Tao Geohegan Hart, Christian Vande Velde, Simon Brotherton, Jill Douglas, Nick Rusling and panel chairman Andrew Croker, for its “frank and honest account of the ins and outs of day-to-day life of a pro-cyclist.”
Millar, who rode in twelve Tour de France races and won a Commonwealth gold medal, beat former teammate and Team Sky rider Geraint Thomas to the prize.
A special award for Outstanding Contribution to Sports Writing was presented to irreproducible football journalist and lifelong Arsenal fan Brian Glanville by Bob Wilson, who played 308 first-team matches for the North London club. The goalkeeper’s charity Willow was the 2016 charity partner.
Attendees at the awards who joined the Cycling Book of the Year and Football Book of the Year winners included Nigel Mansell, Kumar Sangakkara, Bob Wilson and Michael Lynagh among other nominees, authors and journalists.
Elsewhere, Tim Lane and Eliot Cartledge won Littlehampton Book Services Cricket Book of the Year for Chasing Shadows: The Life and Death of Peter Roebuck whilst BBC reporter Tom English won Rugby Book of the Year for No Borders: Playing Rugby for Ireland which followed superstars of Irish rugby.
The hotly contested Times Biography of the Year prize went to Andy Bull’s Speed Kings, the story of four fearless men and their search for Winter Olympic Gold in 1932.
The Freshtime New Writer of the Year award was collected by Ed Caesar for Two Hours: The Quest to Run the Impossible Marathon as William Finnegan went the distance to win the Blink Publishing Outstanding Sports Writing Award for Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life. Illustrated Book of the Year went to Bob Martin for his impressive sporting snapshots in 1/1000th: The Sports Photography of Bob Martin.
Each of the 10 winning titles is now put to an online public vote to determine the Overall Cross Sports Book of the Year in association with The Times. The vote, sponsored by National Book Tokens, will be held on the official website www.sportsbookawards.com – with a prize draw of £100 National Book Tokens. The vote remains open until midnight on June 16 with the winner announced shortly after.
The complete list of winners are:
Cross Autobiography of the Year
Max Mosley Formula One and Beyond (Simon and Schuster)
The Times Biography of the Year
Andy Bull Speed Kings (Bantam Press)
Littlehampton Book Services Cricket Book of the Year
Tim Lane and Eliot Cartledge Chasing Shadows: The Life and Death of Peter Roebuck (Hardie Grant)
Cycling Book of the Year
David Millar The Racer (Yellow Jersey Press)
Barclays Football Book of the Year
Guillem Balague Cristiano Ronaldo (Orion)
Illustrated Book of the Year
Bob Martin 1/1000th: The Sports Photography of Bob Martin (Vision Sports Publishing)
Cross International Autobiography of the Year
Ronda Rousey My Fight, Your Fight (Arrow)
Freshtime New Writer of the Year
Ed Caesar Two Hours: The Quest to Run the Impossible Marathon (Viking)
Outstanding Contribution to Sports Writing
Brian Glanville
Outstanding Sports Writing of the Year
William Finnegan Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life (Little, Brown)
Rugby Book of the Year
Tom English No Borders: Playing Rugby for Ireland (Arena Sport)
For more information about the 2016 Cross Sports Book Awards visit www.sportsbookawards.com.
So, now for the fun part, how would you like to win not 1 but 7 of the shortlisted book titles from this years Cross Sports Book Awards? Each book up for grabs is listed below and feel free to enter using the competition widget below.
Cross Sports Book Awards Giveaway
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