British Sports Book Awards

Updated on Nov 29, 2023

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Awarded for British sports books Country England First awarded 2003		Sponsored by Cross Pens Hosted by National Sporting Club Last awarded Active

The Cross British Sports Book Awards (previously National Sporting Club Book Awards) is a British literary award for sports writing. It was first awarded in 2003 as part of the National Sporting Club. Awards are presented in multiple categories. Each category is judged by one of: sports writers and broadcasters, retailers and enthusiasts. The winners from each category are then opened to public vote through a website to choose an overall winner. Cross Pens became the headline sponsor in 2015. The other major sports writing award in Britain is the William Hill Sports Book of the Year.

The award was founded by David H. Willis. The awards original sponsors include Ladbrokes, Virgin Publishing, Butler and Tanner and WH Smith. As of 2015, new sponsors include Cross Pens, Sky Sports, The Times, Littlehampton Book Services, Robert Walters, TalkSPORT, Freshtime, Human Race Group, Arbuthnot Latham and Procorre.

Best overall winner

2012 Engage: The Fall and Rise of Matt Hampson – Paul Kimmage

2013 Bobby's Open: Mr Jones and the Golf Shot that Defined a Legend – Steven Reid (Corinthian)

2014 The Nowhere Men: The Unknown Story of Football’s True Talent Spotters – Michael Calvin (Century)

2015 Proud - Gareth Thomas (Ebury)

Best Autobiography/Biography

2012 Engage: The Fall and Rise of Matt Hampson – Paul Kimmage (Simon & Schuster)

2013 Seven Deadly Sins – David Walsh (Simon & Schuster)

2014 The Outsider - Jimmy Connors

Best Autobiography

2003 Niall Quinn: The Autobiography – Niall Quinn and Tom Humphries (Headline)

2004 Woody and Nord – Gareth Southgate and Andy Woodman (Penguin)

2005 Playing with Fire – Nasser Hussain (Michael Joseph)

2006 Frank: Fighting Back – Frank Bruno with Kevin Mitchell (Yellow Jersey Press)

2007 Back from the Brink – Paul McGrath (Century)

2008 My Manchester United Years – Bobby Charlton (Headline)

2009 Black and Blue – Paul Canoville (Headline)

2010 Open: An Autobiography – Andre Agassi (HarperCollins)

2011 Beware of the Dog – Brian Moore (Simon & Schuster)

2015 Proud - Gareth Thomas (Ebury)

Best Biography

2003 Jack & Bobby: Story of Brothers in Conflict – Leo McKinstry (Collins Willow)

2004 Keeper of Dreams – Ronald Reng (Yellow Jersey Press)

2005 Basil D'Oliveira – Peter Oborne (Little Brown)

2006 Lance Armstrong: Tour de Force – Daniel Coyle (Collins Willow)

2007 The Death of Marco Pantani – Matt Rendell (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

2008 In Search of Robert Millar – Richard Moore (HarperSport)

2009 Regga – Clay Regazzoni – Christopher Hilton (Haynes Publishing)

2010 Harold Larwood – Duncan Hamilton (Quercus)

2011 Trautmann's Journey – Catrine Clay (Yellow Jersey)

2015 Bobby Moore: The Man in Full - Matt Dickinson (Yellow Jersey)

Best Football Book

2007 Sir Alf – Leo McKinstry (HarperSport)

2008 Provided You Don't Kiss Me – Duncan Hamilton (Fourth Estate)

2009 Inverting the Pyramid – Jonathan Wilson (Orion)

2010 Cantona – Philippe Auclair (Macmillan)

2011 Promised Land – Anthony Clavane (Yellow Jersey)

2012 A Life Too Short – Ronald Reng

2013 Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World – Graham Hunter (BackPage Press)

2014 The Nowhere Men - Michael Calvin

2015 Thirty-One Nil - James Piotr Montague (Bloomsbury)

Best Cricket Book

2007 Sixty Summers: Cricket Since the War – David Foot and Ivan Ponting (Fairfield Books)

2008 More Than a Game: The Story of Cricket’s Early Years – John Major (HarperPress)

2009 The Way It Was – Stephen Chalke (Fairfield Books)

2010 Golden Boy – Christian Ryan (Orion)

2011 Slipless in Settle – Harry Pearson (Little Brown)

2012 Fred Trueman – Chris Waters

2013 On Warne – Gideon Haigh (Simon & Schuster)

2014 The Great Tamasha - James Astill

2015 Wounded Tiger: The History of Cricket in Pakistan - Peter Oborne (Simon & Schuster)

Best Rugby Book

2008 Ripley's World – Andy Ripley (Mainstream Publishing)

2009 Seeing Red: Twelve Tumultuous Years in Welsh Rugby – Alun Carter and Nick Bishop (Mainstream Publishing)

2010 Confessions of a Rugby Mercenary – John Daniell (Ebury Press)

2011 The Grudge – Tom English (Yellow Jersey)

2012 Higgy – Alastair Hignell

2013 The Final Whistle: The Great War in Fifteen Players – Stephen Cooper (The History Press)

2014 City Centre - Simon Halliday

2015 Beyond The Horizon - Richard Parks (Sphere)

Best Illustrated Book

2003 Peter Alliss’ Golf Heroes – Peter Alliss (Virgin Books)

2004 Football Days: Classic Photos – Peter Robinson (Mitchell Beazley)

2005 The Olympics Athens to Athens: 1896–2004 – M Jacque Rogge (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

2006 Speed Addicts: Grand Prix Racing – Mark Hughes (Collins Willow)

2007 1966 Uncovered: The Unseen Story of the World Cup in England – Peter Robinson and Doug Cheeseman (Mitchell Beazley)

2008 Goodbye Gay Meadow – Mathew Ashton (GGM Publishing)

2009 In The Frame: Great Racing Photographs – Edward Whitaker (Highdown)

2010 Centre Court: The Jewel in Wimbledon’s Crown – John Barrett and Ian Hewitt (Vision Sports Publishing)

2011 61 The Spurs Double (Vision Sports Publishing)

2012 Wimbledon – Ian Hewitt and Bob Martin

2013 21 Days to Glory – Team Sky and Dave Brailsford (HarperCollins)

2014 Incredible Waves: An Appreciation of Perfect Surf - Chris Power

2015 The Age Of Innocence - ed. Reuel Golden (Taschen)

Best New Writer

2003 Kings of the Mountains: How Colombia's Cycling Heroes Changed Their Nation's History – Matt Rendell (Aurum Press)

2004 John Daly: Letting the Big Dog Eat – Gavin Newsham (Virgin Books)

2005 Feet in the Clouds – Richard Askwith (Aurum Press)

2006 My Father and Other Working Class Football Heroes – Gary Imlach (Yellow Jersey Press)

2007 The Hour: Sporting Immortality the Hard Way – Michael Hutchinson (Yellow Jersey Press)

2008 The Pyjama Game: A Journey into Judo – Mark Law (Aurum Press)

2009 When Friday Comes – James Montague (Mainstream Publishing)

2010 Eclipse – Nicholas Clee (Bantam Press)

2011 Bounce – Matthew Syed (Fourth Estate)

2012 The Ghost Runner – Bill Jones

2013 Running with the Kenyans: Discovering the secrets of the fastest people on earth – Adharanand Finn (Faber and Faber)

2014 Land of Second Chances - Tim Lewis

2015 Night Games - Anna Krien (Yellow Jersey)

Best Horse Racing Book

2011 The Story of Your Life – James Lambie (Matador)

2012 Beyond the Frame – Edward Whitaker

2013 Her Majesty's Pleasure – Julian Muscat (Racing Post Books)

2014 Henry Cecil: Trainer of Genius - Brough Scott

2015 Cheltenham Et Al - Alastair Down (Racing Post)

Outstanding Sports Writing Award

2014 Everest - Harriet Tuckey

2015 Alone - Bill Jones (Bloomsbury)

Best Cycling Book

2015 The Race Against The Stasi - Herbie Sykes (Aurum Press)

Best Golf Book

2012 The 100 Greatest Ever Golfers – Andy Farrell

2013 Bobby's Open: Mr Jones and the Golf Shot that Defined a Legend – Steven Reid (Icon Books)

Best Motorsports Book

2012 Ultimate E-Type – Philip Porter

2013 That Near-Death Thing – Rick Broadbent (Orion)

Best Publicity Campaign

2010 The Man Who Cycled the World – Campaign by Madeline Toy (Random House)

2011 It's All About the Bike – Campaign by Mari Yamazaki (Particular Books)

2012 Run! – Campaign by Clare Drysdale (Allen & Unwin)

2013 Be Careful What You Wish For – Campaign by Bethan Jones (Yellow Jersey Press)

2014 Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography - Campaign by Karen Geary and Rebecca Mundy (Hodder)

2015 The Second Half by Roy Keane with Roddy Doyle - Campaign by Elizabeth Allen (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), with Jane Beaton from Kew Publicity

Sports Book Retailer of the Year

2012 Waterstones

2013 Foyles

2014 Waterstones

2015 Waterstones

Outstanding Contribution to Sports Writing

2012 Nick Hornby

2013 Christopher Martin-Jenkins

2015 Michael Parkinson

References

British Sports Book Awards Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA

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