Earlier this year, we were thrilled to launch a new charity partnership with the Telegraph Sports Book Awards, a major annual promotion for sports writing and publishing now in its 18th year.
As part of our partnership, a brand new Children’s Sports Book of the Year category was created to celebrate authors whose sporting stories have encouraged children to get into reading through their love of sport. Today, we are delighted to reveal the shortlist for this category:
- The Big Race by David Barrow (Hachette Children's Group)
- Flying Fergus 10: The Photo Finish by Chris Hoy, illustrated by Clare Elsom (Bonnier Books)
- The Racehorse Who Learned to Dance by Clare Balding, illustrated by Tony Ross (Puffin)
- Football School Season 4 by Alex Bellos and Ben Lyttleton, illustrated by Spike Gerrell (Walker Books)
- Unbelievable Football by Matt Oldfield, Illustrated by Ollie Mann (Hachette Children's Group)
- Be Your Best Self by Danielle Brown and Nathan Kai (GMC Publications)
- Changing the Game: Fantastic Female Footballers by Casey Stoney (Bonnier Books)
It's great to use the power of sport to connect with kids all over the world. Some reluctant readers will pick up a book for the first time because it's about football or horses or bikes and that's their passion. I'm pleased to see The Telegraph Sports Book Awards team up with the National Literary Trust to recognise this with a category for children's books. I'm very proud to be on the list of nominees, along with some outstanding titles which share the joy of sport and the many ways in which it can help us through life.
Clare Balding, author of The Racehorse Who Learned to Dance
The Children’s Sports Book of the Year category is being judged by an incredible panel of professionals who work in the worlds of children’s education and entertainment:
- CBBC presenter Ben Shires (who recently took part in the Premier League’s takeover of our Family Zone!)
- Agent at Bath Literary Agency and Co-Founder of Events of Wonder Gill McLay
- BAFTA member and CBeebies presenter Pui Fan Lee
- Founder of The Book Activist, Victoria Dilly
- Our Senior Programme Manager for Sport and Literacy, Tim Judge
We would like to say a huge thank you to our judges – they are sure to have a tough time choosing the winning book from the stellar shortlist!
The Children’s Sports Book of the Year is just one of 10 categories in the 2020 Telegraph Sports Book Awards. Visit the website for more details on the shortlists for all categories:
- Autobiography of the Year
- Pinsent Masons International Autobiography of the Year
- Biography of the Year
- The Heartaches Cricket Book of the Year
- CLOC Football Book of the Year
- Rugby Book of the Year
- Vaaru Cycling Book of the Year
- Illustrated Book of the Year
- General Outstanding Book of the Year
- Children’s Sports Book of the Year
The winners of the Telegraph Sports Book Awards will be announced on 15 July 2020. Stay tuned and follow @sportsbookaward on Twitter, @sportsbookawards on Facebook and Instagram and #ReadingForSport on social media for more!