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Jonny Wilkinson's autobiography has been shortlisted three times for this year's British Sports Book Awards, now in their 10th year, with A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke by Ronald Reng also receiving three nods.
Wilkinson's Jonny makes the shortlist in three categories—autobiography/biography of the year, rugby book of the year, and best publicity campaign, through Helena Towers at Headline. Meanwhile Reng's title was shortlisted for best autobiography/biography, publicity campaign via Fiona Murphy at Vintage, and best football book of the year.
Cricketer Graeme Swann's autobiography, The Breaks are Off (Hodder & Stoughton) received two nods across the autobiography/biography of the year and cricket book of the year categories. Engage: The Fall and Rise of Matt Hampson by Paul Kimmage (Simon & Schuster) and Higgy: Matches, Microphones and MS by Alastair Hignell (Bloomsbury) are also among the titles shortlisted in multiple categories.
Golf Book of the Year and Motorsports Book of the Year are two new categories for 2012, with titles including The 100 Greatest Ever Golfers by Andy Farrell (Elliott & Thompson), and Driving on the Edge: The Art and Science of Race Driving by Michael Krumm (Icon Publishing) nominated in each category respectively.
The winners will be announced at the Savoy Hotel in London on 21st May, with all category winners then entered into an online public vote to find the overall British sports book of the year. The award organisers are currently negotiating with SkySports TV for highlights of the ceremony to be televised, with a 30-minute programme anticipated on 25th May and repeated over the weekend of 26th/27th May.
Nick Hornby will be presented with an "Outstanding Contribution to Sports Writing" award at this year's event, marking 20 years since the publication of his autobiographical Fever Pitch.
The shortlists in full:
Autobiography / Biography of the Year
A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke by Ronald Reng (Yellow Jersey)
Engage: The Fall and Rise of Matt Hampson by Paul Kimmage (Simon & Schuster)
How Not To Be A Professional Footballer by Paul Merson (HarperSport)
Jonny: My Autobiography by Jonny Wilkinson (Headline)
Racing Through The Dark: The Fall and Rise of David Millar by David Millar (Orion)
Red: My Autobiography by Gary Neville (Bantam Press)
Taking A Punt On My Life by Willie Thorne (Vision Sports Publishing)
The Breaks Are Off by Graeme Swann (Hodder & Stoughton)
Cricket Book of the Year
Fred Trueman: The Authorised Biography by Chris Waters (Aurum)
Ian Botham: The Power and the Glory by Simon Wilde (Simon & Schuster)
Jack Hobbs: England's Greatest Cricketer by Leo McKinstry (Yellow Jersey)
The Breaks Are Off by Graeme Swann (Hodder & Stoughton)
Tony Greig: A Reappraisal of English Cricket's Most Controversial Captain by David Tossell (Pitch Publishing)
Football Book of the Year
A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke by Ronald Reng (Yellow Jersey)
Got, Not Got: The A-Z of Lost Football Culture, Treasures and Pleasures by Derek Hammond & Gary Silke (Pitch Publishing)
I'm Not Really Here: A Life of Two Halves by Paul Lake (Century)
The Management: Scotland's Great Football Bosses by Michael Grant & Rob Robertson (Birlinn)
The Smell of Football by Mick Rathbone (Vision Sports Publishing)
There's a Golden Sky: How Twenty Years of the Premier League has Changed Football Forever by Ian Ridley (Bloomsbury)
Golf Book of the Year
18 Greatest Irish Golf Holes by Craig Morrison, Andrew Ross, John Kernick (18 Greatest Golf)
A Journey Through the Annals of The Golfing Annuals 1888-1910 by H R J Grant and D M Wilson (Grant Books)
England's Finest Links: History of Royal Cinque Ports by David L Dobby (Broadside Publishing)
From Old Tom to the Tiger: The Golf Majors 1860-2010 - the First 150 Years by Alun Evans (Evanstar Publishing)
Golf Courses, Great Britain and Ireland by David Cannon (Rizzoli International Publications)
The 100 Greatest Ever Golfers by Andy Farrell (Elliott & Thompson)
The Caddy Chronicles: Book One - The Rookie Season by J J McClure (Createspace)
Horse Racing Book of the Year
Beyond the Frame: Great Racing Photographs by Edward Whitaker (Racing Post Books)
Go Down To The Beaten: Tales of the Grand National by Chris Pitt (Racing Post Books)
In Search of Running Rein The Amazing Fraud of the 1844 Derby by Tony Byles (Apex Publishing)
Ireland’s Greatest Racehorses by Brian O’Connor (Aurum)
My Autobiography by A P McCoy (Orion)
Winning It Back: The Autobiography of Britain's Biggest Gambler by Gary Wiltshire (Racing Post Books)
Illustrated Book of the Year
Britain’s Lost Cricket Grounds: The Hallowed Homes of Cricket That Will Never See Another Ball Bowled by Chris Arnot (Aurum)
From the Boundary's Edge by Laurence Griffiths (Atlantic Publishing)
Great Olympic Moments by Sir Steve Redgrave (Headline)
Mountain High: Europe's 50 Greatest Cycle Climbs by Daniel Friebe and Pete Goding (Quercus)
The Talksport 100 Greatest British Sporting Legends by Bill Burrows with Tom Bailey (Simon & Schuster)
When Boxing Was Boxing by Adam Powley (Haynes Publishing)
Wimbledon – Visions of the Championships by Bob Martin and Ian Hewitt (Vision Sports Publishing)
Motorsports Book of the Year
Audi R8 - WSC Giants by Ian Wagstaff (Veloce Publishing)
Driven by Desire - The Desiré Wilson Story by Alan Wilson (Veloce Publishing)
Driving on the Edge: The Art and Science of Race Driving by Michael Krumm (Icon Publishing)
McLaren - The Wins by David Tremayne (Coterie Press)
Porsche at Le Mans: Sixty Years of Porsche Participation in the World's Greatest Motor Race by Glen Smale (Haynes Publishing)
Ultimate E-type - The Competition Cars by Philip Porter (Porter Press International)
New Writer of the Year
Among the Fans: From the Ashes to the Arrows, a Year of Watching the Watchers by Patrick Collins (Wisden)
Can't Swim, Can't Ride, Can't Run: My Triathlon Journey from Common Man to Ironman by Andy Holgate (Know the Score Books)
Fred Trueman: The Authorised Biography by Chris Waters (Aurum)
Higgy: Matches, Microphones and MS by Alastair Hignell (Bloomsbury)
Sporting Chancer: One Man's Journey to Take On the World by Ed Hawkins (Know the Score Books)
The Ghost Runner: The Tragedy of the Man They Couldn't Stop by Bill Jones (Mainstream)
Rugby Book of the Year
Engage: The Fall and Rise of Matt Hampson by Paul Kimmage (Simon & Schuster)
Higgy: Matches, Microphones and MS by Alastair Hignell (Bloomsbury)
Joking Apart: My Autobiography by Donncha O'Callaghan (Transworld Ireland)
Jonny: My Autobiography by Jonny Wilkinson (Headline)
Southern Comfort: The Story of Borders Rugby by Neil Drysdale (Birlinn)
The Treasures of International Rugby Union by Richard Bath (Carlton Books)
Best Publicity Campaign
A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke by Ronald Reng - Fiona Murphy at Vintage
I'm not really here: A Life of Two Halves by Paul Lake - Charlotte Bush & Philippa Cotton at Cornerstone
Jonny: My Autobiography by Jonny Wilkinson - Helena Towers at Headline
Racing Through The Dark: The Fall and Rise of David Millar by David Miller - Angela McMahon at Orion
RUN! 26.2 Stories of Blisters and Bliss by Dean Karnazes - Clare Drysdale at Allen & Unwin
Why We Run by Robin Harvie - Lyndsey Ng at John Murray