SJA CHAIR’S REPORT: ‘EVOLUTION AND MODERNISATION’
June 12, 2025
By ASHLEY BROADLEY
It has been another year of change and innovation for the SJA.
Membership numbers remain high with a mix of those starting their careers and established journalists, which reflects the diverse nature of our industry.
We have continued to deliver our two major annual events, one of which has seen a change from previous years.
The SJA British Sports Awards has always been a challenging event to host, and the decision was made to announce the winners live on Sky Sports News in November.
As a committee, we were delighted with the day, and I would like to thank Sky Sports for their support. It allowed us to celebrate outstanding sporting achievements and promote the sports media industry and the SJA, particularly to a new audience.
We were keen to acknowledge the community-based organisations in person, so in December, we hosted a special reception at the Houses of Parliament to announce the winner of the SJA Sport for Change Award.
The award seeks to highlight the amazing work of charities and grassroots organisations using sport or physical activity to generate positive environmental, social and governance outcomes.
The winner this year, the Clean Water Sports Alliance, does fantastic work to ensure clean and accessible open water for sports like swimming, kayaking and paddleboarding.
In March, the SJA British Sports Journalism Awards were held at the Park Plaza London Westminster Bridge. There was a record number of entrants and a record number of attendees on the night as we celebrated our outstanding reporters, content creators, broadcasters and photographers.
Our other highlights include an event at Sports Interactive in Stratford, which explored how the sports media approaches major events, and three webinars – one on how to enter the Sports Awards, and two for our Academy members on how to break into sports media and tips on sports broadcasting.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the SJA committee members for all their hard work over the last 12 months to help support all this work.
Their contribution has been outstanding. They are an amazing bunch of people who care deeply about the industry.
I don’t like to single anyone out, but our President Darren Lewis has continued to commit so much of his time and energy to promoting the SJA, and I cannot thank him enough.
Thank you to all our members for continuing to show such passion and commitment to sports media and for supporting our events.
Looking ahead, we will continue to look at our events to make them relevant, cost-effective and accessible.
We will also continue to change and grow, and we would welcome any feedback as we all have one ambition – to promote our shared passion for telling stories about sports.
Ashley Broadley is the sports editor at PA Media and chair of the Sports Journalists’ Association
Election of Officers and Committee
Philip Barker and James Green have stepped down from the SJA Committee.
At the AGM held on 12 June 2025, there was one new candidate for election.
Laurie Palacio was proposed, seconded and duly elected to the Committee.
The re-election of the existing Officers and Committee was also agreed by those present in the meeting and online.