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#SJA2012: The contenders. Who gets your vote?

The SJA will present its British Sports Awards in London on December 6, the results determined by a vote of the members of the world’s largest national sports journalism organisation.

Jessica Ennis was the SJA’s British Sportswoman of the Year in 2010, receiving the trophy from SJA President Sir Michael Parkinson. Will she win the award in 2012 as Olympic champion?

Here, for guidance only, is a prompt list of potential contenders, all now competing for the votes of SJA members.

The only priority comes from you, the SJA members.

Who gets your vote?

Only full SJA members may vote. You must place your top three contenders in all three categories – Sportsman, Sportswoman and Team of the Year. You may only vote once, and you can choose whether to submit your vote online (which takes a matter of minutes) or by post. But you cannot use both, and duplicate votes will both be eliminated. Voting closes at noon on Monday, November 12.

You may vote for whoever you wish – they need not be on this prompt list at all (though you need to ensure that you follow our rules on what qualifies for the team category). For more details on how to vote, click here.

Here, from possibly the greatest year in the history of British sport, are some of the contenders:

Men

A Briton rules the waves: Ben Ainslie, our greatest Olympic sailor ever

Ben Ainslie – Finn Class Olympic champion: his fourth gold medal
Mo Farah – Olympic 5,000 and 10,000m gold medal-winner
Chris Hoy – two Olympic golds in London, bringing career total to six
Anthony Joshua – men’s super heavyweight boxing gold
Frank Lampard – captained Chelsea to victory in the Champions League final
Rory McIlroy – US Open golf and Ryder Cup winner and world No1
Andy Murray – first British man to win tennis Grand Slam since 1936. Won Olympic gold and silver
Sam Warburton – captained Wales to Six Nations, Grand Slam and Triple Crown rugby wins
David Weir – won four golds at London Paralympics
Bradley Wiggins – Tour de France winner, Olympic time trial gold medal-winner

Women

Nicola Adams – Olympic flyweight champion, the first woman to win a boxing gold medal
Hannah Cockcroft – winner of Britain’s first London Paralympic gold (T34 100m)
Charlotte Dujardin – individual and team gold medallist at Olympic dressage
Jessica Ennis – Olympic heptathlon gold medal-winner, breaking British record
Kath Grainger – won Olympic rowing gold medal after silvers at three previous Games
Jade Jones – teenager won 57kg taekwondo Olympic gold medal
Victoria Pendleton – retired after winning second Olympic gold and sixth world sprint title
Laura Robson – Olympic mixed doubles tennis silver medal-winner with Andy Murray
Ellie Simmonds – winner of two Paralympic swimming gold medals
Laura Trott – double Olympic gold at Omnium and team pursuit

Team of the Year

For the Team of the Year, the rules require a team – a unit of two or more persons of both or either sex, competing in the same event – who have contributed most in the year to prestige of British sport on the international stage

Rory McIlroy: a contender for Sportsman of the Year and as part of the European Ryder Cup-winning team

Chelsea – European Champions League and FA Cup double
Wales rugby union – Six Nations champions
Olympic dressage (Laura Bechtolsheimer, Carl Hester, Charlotte Dujardin) – gold medallists
Olympic showjumping (Nick Skelton, Ben Maher, Scott Brash, Peter Charles) – gold medal
Women’s rowing double sculls (Kath Grainger and Anna Watkins) – Olympic gold
Men’s cycling team sprint (Phil Hindes, Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny) – Olympic gold
Women’s cycling team pursuit (Dani King, Laura Trott, Joanne Rowsell) – Olympic gold
Men’s C2 slalom (Tim Baillie, Etienne Stott) – gold medallists
European Ryder Cup team – the greatest comeback since …


UPCOMING SJA EVENTS

Thu Dec 6: 2012 SJA British Sports Awards. An Olympic year extravaganza at the Tower of London. Click here for more details, news of members’ discounts and a booking form.