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William Hill Sports Book of the Year
Subcategory of Awards International Awards
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History

Annual British prize sponsored by bookmakers William Hill and dedicated to rewarding excellence in sports writing.

The award was inaugurated in 1989.

Latest Winners / Recipients

Year: 2014

winner y separately published work icon Night Games : Sex, Power and Sport Anna Krien , Collingwood : Black Inc. , 2013 6019769 2013 single work prose

'"The Pies beat the Saints and the city of Melbourne was still cloaked in black and white crepe paper when the rumour of a pack rape by celebrating footballers began to surface. By morning, the head of the sexual crimes squad confirmed to journalists that they were preparing to question two Collingwood players ... And so, as police were confiscating bedsheets from a townhouse in South Melbourne, the trial by media began."

'What does a young footballer do to cut loose? At night, some play what they think of as pranks, or games. Night games with women. Sometimes these involve consensual sex, but sometimes they don’t, and sometimes they fall into a grey area.

'In the tradition of Helen Garner’s The First Stone comes a closely observed, controversial book about sex, consent and power. In Night Games, Anna Krien follows the rape trial of an Australian Rules footballer. She also takes a balanced and fearless look at the dark side of footy culture – the world of Sam Newman, Ricky Nixon, Matty Johns and the Cronulla Sharks.

'Both a courtroom drama and a riveting work of narrative journalism, this is a breakthrough book by one of the leading young lights of Australian writing.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Works About this Award

Melbourne Author Wins Sam Holden , 2014 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 29 November 2014;
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