ANTON RIPPON on the contenders announced in the Sports Book of the Year Awards
Sir Alex Ferguson’s record breaking autobiography – cunningly entitled My Autobiography should anyone otherwise not realise what they are purchasing – has, unsurprisingly, made the long list for this year’s 12th annual British Sports Book Awards best autobiography or biography category.
Ferguson’s best-seller – 647,000 copies were sold between its October publication and Christmas, making it the best-selling print book of 2013 – finds itself up against another football manager’s autobiography, Harry Redknapp’s Always Managing: My Autobiography, as well as referee Mark Halsey’s story Added Time: Surviving Cancer, Death Threats and the Premier League written with 2007 Sports Journalist of the Year, Ian Ridley, and published by Ridley’s Floodlit Dream company.
Other titles cover sports as diverse as triathlon, rowing, snooker, tennis, horseracing and boxing.
The rest of the long list titles are:
It’s All About The Bike: My Autobiography, by Sean Yates (Bantam Press)
The Outsider: My Autobiography, by Jimmy Connors (Bantam Press)
Henry Cecil: Trainer of Genius, by Brough Scott (Racing Post Books)
Driving Ambition: My Autobiography, by Andrew Strauss (Hodder & Stoughton)
War and Peace: My Story, by Ricky Hatton (Macmillan)
Running: The Autobiography, by Ronnie O’Sullivan (Orion)
Swim, Bike, Run: Our Triathlon Story, by Alistair & Jonathan Brownlee (Viking)
Stillness and Speed: My Story, by Dennis Bergkamp with David Winner (Simon & Schuster)
Katherine Grainger: Dreams Do Come True, by Katherine Grainger (Andre Deutsch)
The short-list for this award and the other eight categories – Best New Writer, Outstanding Sports Writing Award, Best Illustrated Book, Best Football Book, Best Cricket Book, Best Rugby Book, Best Horseracing Book and Best Publicity Campaign for a Sports Book – will be announced on April 28.
The winners will be unveiled at the award ceremony dinner at Lord’s Cricket Ground on May 21.
The British Sports Book Awards sponsors and partners this year include BT Sport, The Times, Getty Images, Arbuthnot Latham, Orion Books, Littlehampton Book Services and Robert Walters.
Make sure you don’t miss out on the gala celebration of the best of British sports journalism by booking your ticket – or even a table – for the SJA British Sports Journalism Awards on Monday March 24 at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London’s Covent Garden.
The event begins at 6pm, with a champagne reception and opportunity to view an exhibition of many of the leading entries in the photography categories, prior to a three-course dinner and the presentation of the awards.
There are special ticket discounts available to paid-up SJA members. But hurry – tickets are already selling fast.
- Click here to make a booking online, or contact our event organisers, Start2Finish, on 020 8916 2492 or by email to martin@s2fevents.co.uk for more details
- The SJA is the largest member organisation of sports media professionals in the world. Join us: Click here for more details
UPCOMING SJA EVENTS
Mon Mar 24: SJA British Sports Journalism Awards, Grand Connaught Rooms, London
Mon Apr 14: SJA Spring Golf Day: Croham Hurst GC, Surrey. Booking details to be announced