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William Hill has announced the longlist for its 27th ‘Sports Book of the Year Award’. The 14 finalists will compete for a £27,000 cash prize, which will be awarded at a reception at London BAFTA on Thursday 26 November.
William Hill has announced the longlist for its 27th ‘Sports Book of the Year Award’. The 14 finalists will compete for a £27,000 cash prize, which will be awarded at a reception at London BAFTA on the Thursday 26 November.
Announcing the nominees, William Hill stated that this year’s selection focused on the brutal and corrupt dark side of sports. Subject matters for the prize, include the trial of the Paralympian, Oscar Pistorius, The FIFA corruption and the Bradford City stadium fire of 1985.
Guardian journalist Donald McRae faces the possibility of a record third win, for “Man’s World: The Double Life of Emile Griffith”. The book explores the US boxer’s Emile Griffith career and hidden homosexuality during the 1950’s and 60’s.
William Hill Media Relations Director and co-founder of the Award, Graham Sharpe, commented on the nominees
“Never let it be said sportswriters shy away from difficult subjects. In this longlist, our authors shine their floodlights into many of sport’s dark corners, but also find inspirational tales of individual and team success. While football is the most written about subject, it is wonderful to see areas less widely covered – endurance running, bobsledding and chess, whose status as a sport may provoke some debate – included. These books deserve a wide audience – I hope their inclusion here helps them find it.”
The judging panel for this year’s Award consists of: retired professional footballer and former chairman of the Professional Footballer’s Association, Clarke Carlisle; broadcaster and writer John Inverdale; broadcaster Danny Kelly; award-winning journalist Hugh McIlvanney; and columnist and author, Alyson Rudd. Chairman of the judging panel is John Gaustad, co-creator of the Award and founder of the Sportspages bookshop.
27th William Hill ‘Sports Book of the Year Award’(alphabetically by author’s surname):
- The Ugly Game: The Qatari Plot to Buy the World Cupby Heidi Blake and Jonathan Calvert (Simon & Schuster)
- Speed Kingsby Andy Bull (Bantam Press)
- Living on the Volcano: The Secrets of Surviving as a Football Managerby Michael Calvin (Century)
- The Trials of Oscar Pistorius: Chase Your Shadowby John Carlin (Atlantic Books)
- Kings of the Road: A Journey into the Heart of British Cyclingby Robert Dineen (Aurum Press)
- A King in Hiding: How a Child Refugee Became a World Chess Championby Fahim, Sophie Le Callennec, Xavier Parmentier and Barbara Mellor (translator) (Icon)
- Fifty-Six: The Story of the Bradford Fireby Martin Fletcher (Bloomsbury)
- The Game of Our Lives: The Meaning and Making of English Footballby David Goldblatt (Viking)
- Runner: A Short Story About A Long Runby Lizzy Hawker (Aurum Press)
- Fire in Babylonby Simon Lister (Yellow Jersey)
- A Man’s World: The Double Life of Emile Griffithby Donald McRae (Simon & Schuster)
- The Bolt Supremacyby Richard Moore (Yellow Jersey)
- My Fight/Your Fight: The Official Ronda Rousey Autobiographyby Ronda Rousey and Maria Burns Ortiz (Century)
- Journeymen: The Other Side of the Boxing Business by Mark Turley (Pitch
