Twelve super-impactful stories vying for silverware at #SJA2024 Awards; 19 more shortlists announced in Writing section, including five all-new categories; “utmost quality exists across the board,” says chair of judges Andy Elliott; buy tickets now for gala ceremony in London on Monday 24 March…
The Scoop category shortlist has been expanded once again for this year’s SJA British Sports Journalism Awards, with a tasty 12 stories from 2024 all in the mix.
A strong slate of contenders was picked over by a panel of judges who ultimately decided to put through a dynamic dozen.
Four of the scoops chosen relate to another turbulent season for Manchester United, while cricket, F1 and rugby union are also represented at the final stage.
The category shortlist is one of 20 announced in the Writing section ahead of the gala SJA Awards night at Park Plaza Westminster Bridge on Monday 24 March.
Five of them are new additions to the line-up, while Specialist Sports Publisher is an evolution of a category that last featured back in 2015.
Andy Elliott, chair of judges and a former SJA chair, said: “Despite continuing cutbacks across the media and the rising threat of AI, the awards saw another record, high-class entry showing that the sports media world is blessed with rich talent.
“As well as familiar names, the year saw some rising stars and new outlets demanding to be seen and heard and adding to the overall mix of five-star entries.
“Every judging round proves a Herculean task for the judges who face an unenviable task of picking the shortlists and we should pay tribute to their diligence.
“As ever, who won what will cause debate but what is not in dispute is the utmost quality that exists across the board.”
Two of the biggest prizes on offer are Newspaper of the Year and Digital Sports Publisher. Last year’s winners return to defend their titles – Mail Sport’s print production has been honoured six times in total, while The Athletic is going for three in a row in the other category.
However, rival titles The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Times & Sunday Times will be out to stop them, with each having been named on both the Newspaper and DSP shortlists.
Columnist is a coveted award for individual writers, and The Guardian’s Jonathan Liew has a chance to claim it for a fourth consecutive time. Oliver Holt, who won the category in 2008 and 2011, goes up against his Mail Sport colleagues Ian Herbert and Riath Al-Samarrai.
Content Agency is a new category open to organisations producing sports content for clients across any format. Getty Images, Sportsbeat, Stats Perform, The Content Club and Whisper were selected as the best in show.
Three of those up for Cricket Journalist – Chris Stocks, Simon Wilde and Stephan Shemilt – are shortlisted at the SJAs for the first time, while Will Macpherson follows on here having secured a Scoop spot last year.
The odds appear to be in Opta Analyst’s favour in the new Data Journalist category, which recognises the best portfolio of work utilising sports data. Two of its number-crunching wordsmiths, Ali Tweedale and David Segar, are included on a shortlist of six.
Making Feature Writer’s final stage is a formidable task in itself. Title holder Donald McRae returns and is one of five named here who has previously celebrated success in the category. Impressively, James Gheerbrant – runner-up to McRae last time out – is shortlisted for a third straight year.
Conversely, Sam Wallace is the only former winner in the running for Football Journalist. Two Jonathans, Liew and Northcroft, retain their spots from the 2023 edition of the Awards.
The Football News Reporter category reaches its third year, with David Ornstein defending his title against Athletic stablemate Adam Crafton, the reigning SJA Sportswriter of the Year.
Martyn Ziegler also has a John Bromley Trophy triumph on his CV, adding his at the 2021 Awards. That year, he won News Reporter en route to bagging the biggest prize on offer and he is shortlisted here again, alongside four-time winner Matt Lawton and another Times colleague, Elizabeth Ammon.
The ability to zero in on the sporting zeitgeist is celebrated by the new Popular Culture Commentator category, while Sport for Change Journalism recognises the best portfolio of work focusing on social and environmental issues.
Meanwhile, our industry’s rising stars are again spotlighted in ‘Ones to Watch – Writing’. Among those eyeing the Ian Wooldridge Trophy are last year’s runner-up Aadam Patel; Charlotte Daly, also from Mail Sport and an SJA winner for Social Media Journalist; The Guardian’s Ben Fisher, who took silver in 2022; and Sky Sports’ Um-E-Aymen Babar, who is also shortlisted again.
There’s a chance for Jon Colman to record an extraordinary 10th win in Regional Journalist, but previous winners Neil Allen and Dafydd Pritchard could prevent that from happening, along with two newcomers for the SJAs in Joe Thomas and Simon Collings.
Rugby Journalist again attracts a strong field. Holder Nik Simon and Stephen Jones – the 2003 SJA Sportswriter of the Year – have two wins each, while Alex Lowe took the 2021 title.
The name of the late, great Mike Dickson is retained in memoriam on the Specialist Correspondent award. Its holder, Donald McRae, is shortlisted again alongside another previous winner in Al-Samarrai.
Finally, Sports Summariser – the last of the new categories – and Women’s Sport Journalist are open to writers and broadcasters. Suzy Wrack and Fi Tomas were the top two when WSJ was inaugurated last year, with Charlotte Harpur and Kathryn Batte also return to the shortlist.
The winners of the SJA British Sports Journalism Awards will be announced at a gala ceremony, taking place at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge in London on Monday 24 March, 2025.
Tickets and tables are available to purchase now via the awards website.
THE JOHN BROMLEY SPORTSWRITER OF THE YEAR
The SJA Sportswriter of the Year Award, which is named after the Association’s former chairman and first President, is chosen by a vote of national and regional sports editors.
This category does not require a submission, however to be eligible, journalists must be shortlisted in one of the other writing categories.
SJA BRITISH SPORTS JOURNALISM AWARDS 2024 – WRITING CATEGORY SHORTLISTS
(Data Journalist, Scoop, Sport for Change Journalism, Sports Summariser, and Women’s Sport Journalist categories also open to broadcast media; Content Agency also open to broadcast media and photography)
COLUMNIST
Barney Ronay – The Guardian
Ian Herbert – Mail Sport
James Wallace – Freelance
Jonathan Liew – The Guardian
Kate Mason – Metro
Oliver Brown – The Telegraph
Oliver Holt – Mail Sport
Riath Al-Samarrai – Mail Sport
CONTENT AGENCY
Getty Images
Opta Content
Sportsbeat
The Content Club
Whisper
CRICKET JOURNALIST
Ali Martin – The Guardian
Chris Stocks – The i Paper
Mike Atherton – The Times & Sunday Times
Nick Hoult – The Telegraph
Simon Wilde – The Times & Sunday Times
Stephan Shemilt – BBC Sport
Tim Wigmore – The Telegraph
Will Macpherson – The Telegraph
DATA JOURNALIST
Ali Tweedale – Opta Analyst
Andy Zaltzman – BBC
Ben Wylie – Plot the Ball
David Segar – Opta Analyst
Hamzah Khalique-Loonat – The Times & Sunday Times
Mark Carey – The Athletic
DIGITAL SPORTS PUBLISHER
MailOnline Sport
Opta Analyst
Sky Sports
The Athletic
The Guardian
The Telegraph
The Times & Sunday Times
FEATURE WRITER
Alyson Rudd – The Times & Sunday Times
Daniel Storey – The i Paper
David Walsh – The Times & Sunday Times
Donald McRae – The Guardian
James Gheerbrant – The Times & Sunday Times
Nik Simon – Mail Sport
Oliver Brown – The Telegraph
Owen Slot – The Times & Sunday Times
FOOTBALL JOURNALIST
Daniel Storey – The i Paper
Ian Ladyman – Mail Sport
Isaan Khan – Mail Sport
James Ducker – The Telegraph
James Gheerbrant – The Times & Sunday Times
Jonathan Liew – The Guardian
Jonathan Northcroft – The Times & Sunday Times
Sam Wallace – The Telegraph
FOOTBALL NEWS REPORTER
Adam Crafton – The Athletic
David Ornstein – The Athletic
Matt Hughes – Hughes Media Group
Matt Law – The Telegraph
Sami Mokbel – Mail Sport
Tom Garry – The Guardian
NEWS REPORTER
Ben Rumsby – The Telegraph
Elizabeth Ammon – The Times & Sunday Times
Heather Dewar – Scottish Daily Mail (freelance)
Liz Perkins – ITV Wales/Daily Telegraph
Martyn Ziegler – The Times & Sunday Times
Matt Hughes – Hughes Media Group
Matt Lawton – The Times & Sunday Times
Mike Keegan – Mail Sport
POPULAR CULTURE COMMENTATOR
Barney Ronay – The Guardian
Caoimhe O’Neill – The Athletic
Jon Holmes – Freelance
Laura Howard – She’s A Baller
Phil Hay – The Athletic
Rob Maul – The Sun
Simi Iluyomade – VERSUS
NEWSPAPER
Mail Sport
The Guardian
The Observer
The Sunday Times
The Telegraph
The Times
ONES TO WATCH – WRITING (THE IAN WOOLDRIDGE TROPHY)
Aadam Patel – Mail Sport
Ben Fisher – The Guardian
Charlotte Daly – Mail Sport
Jessy Parker Humphreys – Freelance
Jordan Campbell – The Athletic
Lewis Steele – Mail Sport
Sonia Twigg – The Telegraph / The Independent
Um-E-Aymen Babar – Sky Sports
The winner of the ‘Ones to Watch – Writing’ category will be announced on the SJA website on March 10. All those shortlisted in this category will be contacted shortly and invited to attend the awards as a guest of the SJA.
REGIONAL JOURNALIST
Ciaran Kelly – The Journal/Chronicle Live
Dafydd Pritchard – BBC Sport Wales
Heather Dewar – Scottish Daily Mail (freelance)
Joe Thomas – Liverpool ECHO
Jon Colman – Newsquest Cumbria
Jordan Cross – Portsmouth News
Neil Allen – Portsmouth News
Simon Collings – The London Standard
RUGBY JOURNALIST
Alex Lowe – The Times & Sunday Times
Daniel Schofield – The Telegraph
Gavin Mairs – The Telegraph
Nik Simon – Mail Sport
Stephen Jones – The Times & Sunday Times
William Kelleher – The Times & Sunday Times
SCOOP
Anderson’s summer swansong – Ali Martin – The Guardian
Bill Sweeney pay – Alex Lowe – The Times & Sunday Times
Dan Ashworth leaves Manchester United after five months as sporting director – David Ornstein, Laurie Whitwell and Adam Crafton – The Athletic
England turn to Thomas Tuchel – Rob Dorsett – Sky Sports News
I got into Wembley without a ticket – Aadam Patel – Mail Sport
Lewis Hamilton to join Ferrari – Craig Slater – Sky Sports News
Man City launch unprecedented legal action against Premier League – Matt Lawton – The Times & Sunday Times
Marcus Rashford to leave Manchester United – Henry Winter – Freelance
Sir Alex Ferguson’s contract ended by INEOS – Adam Crafton – The Athletic
Thomas Tuchel agrees to become England manager – Jonathan Northcroft – The Times & Sunday Times
‘Unacceptable’ handling of sexual assault claims linked to Fulham Football Club raises more questions for police – David Ornstein and Laura Williamson – The Athletic
United set to axe a quarter of their staff – Mike Keegan – Mail Sport
SPECIALIST CORRESPONDENT (THE MIKE DICKSON TROPHY)
Barney Ronay – The Guardian
Dominic King – Mail Sport
Donald McRae – The Guardian
Jeremy Wilson – The Telegraph
Lee Mottershead – Racing Post
Molly Hudson – The Times & Sunday Times
Riath Al-Samarrai – Mail Sport
SPECIALIST SPORTS PUBLISHER
FootBiz
Opta Analyst
Rugby Journal
Sébastien Chapuis (Substack)
Sports Media LGBT+
Telegraph Women’s Sport
The Cricketer
The Cutback
SPORT FOR CHANGE JOURNALISM
Antoine Allen – ITV News
Bespoke Content Team – Sky Sports News
David Lockwood – BBC Sport
Owen Slot – The Times & Sunday Times
Summaya Mughal – BBC
Versus
SPORTS SUMMARISER
Alex Crook – talkSPORT
Geraint Hughes – Sky Sports News
Matt Slater – The Athletic
Rob Smyth – The Guardian
Scott Murray – The Guardian
WOMEN’S SPORT JOURNALIST
Caroline Barker – Sky Sports
Charlotte Harpur – The Athletic
Fiona Tomas – The Telegraph
Jessy Parker Humphreys – The Athletic
Kathryn Batte – Telegraph/Mail
Katie Whyatt – The Athletic
Suzanne Wrack – The Guardian
Tom Garry – The Guardian
- What happened in Writing section last year
- Photography shortlists announced
- About the British Sports Journalism Awards
- Past winners
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