Ben Stokes, the World Cup-winning cricketer, world champion sprinter Dina Asher-Smith and the men’s World Cup-winning cricket team, won the Sportsman, Sportswoman and Sports team of the Year awards at today’s SJA British Sports Awards, sponsored by the National Lottery. The awards are voted for by SJA members.
Stokes finished ahead of six-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton and Manchester City’s England striker Raheem Sterling while Asher-Smith saw off Team GB teammate Katarina Johnson-Thompson and footballer Lucy Bronze. England’s one day cricket winners pipped Liverpool FC and the England men’s rugby union team.
Asher-Smith, history-making winner of three medals at this year’s world championships in Doha, takes the top accolade for a second year in succession.
The SJA Awards were first staged in 1949 and are the oldest sports awards in Britain. Sponsored by The National Lottery, the event, staged at The Pavilion at the Tower of London, was attended by 400 celebrity guests from sport, politics and the media.
SJA President Patrick Collins presented the President’s award to John Blackie, who has coached Asher-Smith since she was eight years old.
The Lottery made its own Spirit of Sport Award to double Olympic skeleton champion Lizzy Yarnold, who is now a director on the board of the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association.
Recipient of the J L Manning Award for services to sport off the field was Tracey Neville, former netball coach of England’s Commonwealth Games gold medal team and World Cup semi-finalists.
The Sport for Social Change Award was won by Salaam Peace, an organisation founded in Walthamstow, East London, as a direct response to the July 7 bombings in 2005. They operate in some of the most diverse areas of the UK, and promote positive images of British Muslims.
The award – created in conjunction with ConnectSport and the Sport for Development Coalition, and supported by Oaks – aims to highlight the amazing work of organisations across the UK which are using sport and/or physical activity to create a positive impact.
FULL LIST OF WINNERS
- Sportsman of the Year: Ben Stokes (cricket)
- Sportswoman of the Year: Dina Asher-Smith (athletics)
- Team of the Year: England men’s cricket
- JL Manning Award for services off the field of play: Tracey Neville MBE (netball)
- SJA Bill McGowran Trophy for achievement in para sport: Aled Davies MBE (para athletics) & Alice Tai (para swimming)
- SJA Chairman’s Award: Ellen White (football)
- SJA Committee Award: John Gosden (horse racing)
- SJA Pat Besford Award for outstanding performance of the year: Katarina Johnson-Thompson (athletics)
- SJA Peter Wilson Trophy for international newcomer: Jofra Archer (cricket)
- SJA President’s Award: John Blackie (athletics)
- World Sport Achievement Award for an outstanding achievement competing internationally – Josh Warrington (boxing)
- The National Lottery Spirit of Sport Award: Lizzy Yarnold (skeleton)
- Sport for Social Change: Salaam Peace
Please Note: Rights-free images will be available after the event from Getty Images.
The National Lottery plays a unique role in supporting the UK’s elite athletes, with no-one contributing more to elite sport in the UK than National Lottery players. British athletes have won 700 Olympic and Paralympic medals since National Lottery funding was first awarded to elite athletes in 1997. Alongside elite sport, The National Lottery has invested over £5 billion in grassroots sport to date, supporting more than 150 different sports and creating opportunities for everyone to get fit.
The Sports Journalists’ Association is the world’s largest national association of sports journalists, its members comprising writers, photographers, editors and broadcasters.
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