News

New format for sports paper of the year at British Sports Journalism awards

The SJA British Sports Journalism Awards enter their fifth decade in recognising the talent and depth of the nation’s sports media with the 2018 competition now open for entries from writers, photographers and broadcasters.

Although the competition has been running for 40 years, the organisers are constantly reviewing and refining the rules and categories to reflect changes in the industry.

Having canvassed opinion, the Sports Newspaper of the Year will now be decided by judged entry.  The Guardian were last year’s winners, taking the baton from four-time winners The Daily Mail, who in turn had ended a three-year run by The Times.

 This award is for the newspaper that best covered sport in 2018. An independent judging panel will be looking for entries which show style, good writing, exclusives and consistency throughout the year. Entries must consist of three full editions accompanied by a 500-word citation. Hard copy entries are accepted as well as digital entries. 

Mary Fitzhenry, chair of the SJA awards committee, said: “The SJA is very proud to run these awards, which are the most prestigious in the sports world. However we know that in order to maintain our reputation we need to consult with sports editors and leading figures in the sports media to ensure our competition reflects the changes in our industry.

“We have had a series of discussions across all the writing, photography and broadcast disciplines and have listened to their feedback. We are confident the 2018 competition will be our best yet.”

The closing date for entries is Wednesday 16 January 2019.  Entry forms and further details can be downloaded from the links below.

The winners will be announced at a gala dinner supported by Canon and European Professional Club Rugby at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge on Monday 25 February 2019.

SJA members receive significant discounts to the entry fees and tickets to the awards dinner.

Writing and Broadcast categories
Photography categories