Judges pondering over 10 shortlists for Cross Sports Book Awards 2016

The judges are pondering over 10 shortlists for the 2016 Cross Sports Book Awards ahead of the awards ceremony on 1 June.

In addition to the titles under consideration for Autobiography of the Year, the longlist for which was revealed in January, the contenders in nine other categories have been named, including the new award for International Autobiography of the Year.

Gareth Thomas won the 2015 Sports
Book of the Year award for Proud

As in previous years, after the individual category winners have been announced, each will go forward to an online public vote to determine the overall Cross Sports Book of the Year. Everyone that takes part in the public vote will be entered into a draw to win National Book Tokens.

Michael Calvin, who won the overall prize in 2014 with The Nowhere Men and was the ghostwriter behind rugby star Gareth Thomas's 2015 winner Proud, has the chance to complete a hat-trick with Living on the Volcano, his study of what it takes to survive as a football manager, which is shortlisted for Football Book of the Year.

Ronald Reng, the German sports journalist who won Biography of the Year in 2004 with Keeper of Dreams and Football Book of the Year in 2012 with A Life Too Short, is shortlisted in the football category again with Matchdays: The Hidden Story of the Bundesliga.

John Cross's Arsene Wenger and Guillem Balague's Cristiano Ronaldo go head to head in both the Biography and Football categories, while Richard Tomlinson's Amazing Grace: The Man Who was WG is shortlisted for Cricket Book of the Year as well as the biography prize.

Stephen Chalke, author of the 2009 Cricket Book of the Year winner The Way it Was, is a contender for that prize again with Summer's Crown: The Story of Cricket's County Championship.

Donald McRae, who collaborated with Steven Gerrard on his shortlisted Autobiography My Story, is shortlisted also for Biography of the Year with A Man's World: The Double Life of Emile Griffith.

And Ed Caesar is in the running for the New Writer award and the Outstanding Sports Writing award for Two Hours: The Quest to Run the Impossible Marathon.

The 2016 awards will be presented by Sky Sports News presenter Mike Wedderburn and Test Match Special’s Alison Mitchell after a dinner at Lord’s Cricket Ground on 1 June. An hour-long highlights show will be shown on Sky Sports. with multiple repeat shows on 4 and 5 June.

The shortlists in full:

Cross Autobiography of the Year

Steve Davis: Interesting (Ebury)
Steven Gerrard: My Story (Penguin)
David Lloyd: Last in the Tin Bath  (Simon & Schuster)
Nigel Mansell: Staying on Track (Simon & Schuster)
AP McCoy: Winner (Orion)
Max Mosley: Formula One and Beyond (Simon & Schuster)

The Times Biography of the Year

Guillem Balague: Cristiano Ronaldo (Orion)
Andy Bull: Speed Kings (Bantam Press)
John Cross: Arsene Wenger (Simon & Schuster)
Donald McRae: A Man's World: The Double Life of Emile Griffith (Simon & Schuster)
Richard Tomlinson: Amazing Grace: The Man Who was W.G.(Little, Brown)
Luke G. Williams: Richmond Unchained: The Biography of the World's First Black Sporting Superstar (Amberley)

Littlehampton Book Services Cricket Book of the Year

Scyld Berry: Cricket: The Game of Life (Hodder & Stoughton)
Stephen Chalke: Summer's Crown: The Story of Cricket's County Championship (Fairfield Books)
Steve James: The Art of Centuries (Bantam Press)
Tim Lane and Elliot Cartledge: Chasing Shadows: The Life and Death of Peter Roebuck (Hardie Grant Books)
Simon Lister: Fire in Babylon (Yellow Jersey Press)
Richard Tomlinson: Amazing Grace: The Man Who was WG (Little, Brown)

Cycling Book of the Year

Peter Cossins: Alpe d'Huez: The Story of Pro Cycling's Greatest Climb (Aurum Press)
William Fotheringham: Bernard Hinault and the Fall and Rise of French Cycling(Yellow Jersey Press)
Ian MacGregor: To Hell on a Bike (Bantam Press)
David Millar: The Racer (Yellow Jersey Press)
Edward Pickering: The Yellow Jersey Club (Bantam Press)
Geraint Thomas: The World of Cycling According to G (Quercus)

Barclays Football Book of the Year

Guillem Balague: Cristiano Ronaldo (Orion)
Michael Calvin: Living on the Volcano (Century)
John Cross: Arsene Wenger (Simon & Schuster)
Andrew Jennings: The Dirty Game: Uncovering the Scandal at FIFA (Century)
James Lawton: Forever Boys (Wisden)
Ronald Reng: Matchdays: The Hidden Story of the Bundesliga (Simon & Schuster)

Blink Publishing General Outstanding Sports Writing Award

Darren Barker with Ian Ridley: A Dazzling Darkness: The Darren Barker Story (Floodlit Dreams)
Ed Caesar: Two Hours: The Quest to Run the Impossible Marathon (Viking)
John Daniell: The Fixer (Saltway)
Willie Finnegan: Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life (Little, Brown)
Richard Moore: The Bolt Supremacy (Yellow Jersey Press)
William Skidelsky: Federer and Me: A Story of Obsession (Yellow Jersey Press)

Illustrated Book of the Year

Matthew Baird: Triathlon!: A tribute to the world's greatest triathletes, courses and gear (Aurum Press)
Paul Connolly: Richie Benaud: Those Summers of Cricket 1930-2015 (Hardie Grant Books)
Tour de France 2015:The Official Review (Vision Sports Publishing)
Bob Martin: 1/1000th: The Sports Photography of Bob Martin (Vision Sports Publishing)
Roger McStravick: St Andrews in the Footsteps of Old Tom Morris (St Andrews Press)
Mark Platt: This is Anfield (Carlton Books)

Cross International Autobiography of the Year Award

Dan Carter: Dan Carter: The Autobiography of an All Blacks Legend (Headline)
Didier Drogba: Commitment: My Autobiography (Hodder & Stoughton)
Michael Lynagh and Mark Eglinton: Blindsided (HarperSport)
Marco Negri with Jeff Holmes: Moody Blue: The Story of Mysterious Marco (Pitch Publishing)
Ronda Rousey: My Fight Your Fight (Arrow)
Mark Webber: Aussie Grit: My Formula One Journey (Pan Macmillan)

Freshtime New Writer of the Year

Emily Bullock: The Longest Fight (Myriad Editions)
Ed Caesar: Two Hours: The Quest to Run the Impossible Marathon (Viking)
Lucy Fry: Run, Ride, Sink or Swim: A Rookie's Year in Women's Triathlon (Faber & Faber)
Martin Hardy: Touching Distance (DeCoubertin Books)
Lizzy Hawker: Runner: A Short Story About a Long Run (Aurum Press)
Anne Lauppe-Dunbar: Dark Mermaids (Seren Books)

Arbuthnot Latham Rugby Book of the Year

Tony Collins: The Oval World: A Global History of Rugby (Bloomsbury)
Stephen Cooper: After the Final Whistle (History Press)
Tom English: No Borders: Playing Rugby for Ireland (Arena Sport)
Stephen Ferris: Man and Ball (Transworld Ireland)
Adam Jones: Bomb: My Autobiography (Headline)
Phil Larder with Nicholas Bishop: The Iron Curtain: My Rugby Journey from League to Union (Pitch Publishing)

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