Record Numbers Attend SJA British Sports Journalism Awards

A record 670 guests attended the SJA British Sports Journalism Awards on Monday 24 February. Start2Finish Event Management has managed this event for several years overseeing huge growth for these prestigious industry awards.

The Guardian’s Marina Hyde, Christina Macfarlane of CNN and Richard Heathcote of Getty Images were the big winners on a ground-breaking night at the 2019 British Sports Journalism Awards, sponsored by The National Lottery and Canon.

Hyde, named first female SJA Sports Writer of the Year in the 43-year history of the competition, was presented with the John Bromley Trophy having also been the first woman to take the Sports Columnist Award. Macfarlane became the first woman to win Broadcast Journalist of the year.

Heathcote took the Ed Lacey Trophy as SJA Sports Photographer of the Year, sponsored by Canon, having also won the Sports Portfolio. Andrew Boyers (Action Images/Thomson Reuters) won Sports Picture.

The SJA Sports Newspaper of the Year title went to The Daily Telegraph for the first time since the award was introduced in 2010.

The Sports Network of the Year award was won by talkSPORT.

Mike Costello of BBC Radio5Live was named Sports Commentator of 2019, five years after he was Broadcast Journalist of the Year.

The Sports Pundit award – won by Gary Neville – was chosen by SJA members from the judges’ shortlist.

There were firsts too for women winners in the Sports Feature Writer and Sports News Reporter categories with Alyson Rudd of The Times and the Mail’s Laura Lambert taking the accolades.

More than 600 guests were at the gala dinner at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge, hosted by Jim Rosenthal, who was also presented with the Doug Gardner Award for Services to Sports Journalism and the SJA.

Visit the www.sportsjournalists.co.uk for the latest news and information about the awards, find us on Facebook (sportsjournalistsgb), Twitter (@sportsja) and Instagram (@sjainsta)