Hill, Wright, Rutherford and Pavey go head to head in Cross Sports Book Awards

Formula One champion Damon Hill, Arsenal football legend Ian Wright, London 2012 Olympic Gold medallist Greg Rutherford and Olympic Games runner Jo Pavey have each been shortlisted for 2017's Cross Sports Book Awards.

The shortlists for the nine awards were today (26th April) announced at Lord's Cricket Ground, seeing Hill shortlisted for Watching the Wheels: My Autobiography (Macmillan), Wright, for A Life in Football: My Autobiography (Constable), Rutherford, for Unexpected: The Autobiography and Pavey, for This Mum Runs (Yellow Jersey) all vying for the Cross Autobiography of the Year. 

Dual nominations went to Burnley footballer Joey Barton and England Ashes winner Jonathan Trott, who are both in contention for the Cross Autobiography of the Year award for their respective autobiographies, No Nonsense (Simon & Schuster) and Unguarded (Sphere). Barton was also shortlisted in the Specsavers Football Book of the Year category and Trott for best Cricket Book of the Year. 

Former British and Irish Lions captain Paul O'Connell also received a dual nomination for The Battle (Penguin Ireland), which is up for the Arbuthnot Latham Rugby Book of the Year award and for best International Autobiography.

In the latter category, O'Connell will face competition from Barcelona footballer Andrés Iniesta, in the running for his book The Artist, published by Headline; boxer Roberto Duran, for Endurance published by Wisden; South African cricketer A B de Villiers, for his A B de Villiers, published by Macmillan; long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad, with Find a Way, also published by Macmillan; and the creator of Nike, Phil Knight, for Shoe Dog (Simon & Schuster).

The Cricket Book of the Year award shortlist features a host of former players, also including Mark Nicholas, for A Beautiful Game (Allen & Unwin), Graeme Fowler, Absolutely Foxed (Simon & Schuster), and Alan Butcher, for The Good Murungu (Pitch Publishing).

Rio Olympic Games golden couple Laura Trott and Jason Kenny's book, Laura Trott and Jason Kenny: The Inside Track, published by Michael O'Mara, will face former Tour de France winner Chris Boardman, shortlisted for Triumphs and Turbulence (Ebury), in the Cycling Book of the Year category.

Writers and journalists on the shortlists include Tim Moore for The Cyclist Who Went Out in the Cold (Yellow Jersey), for his account of cycling the 6,000 mile route of the old Iron Curtain on a two-geared East German shopping bike, and Duncan Hamilton for biography For the Glory: The Life of Eric Liddell (Transworld) up for The Times Biography of the Year.

The 2017 awards will take place on 24th May at Lord’s Cricket Ground, as presented by Sky Sports News presenter Mike Wedderburn and Test Match Special’s Alison Mitchell, with a highlights show to air on Sky Sports.

Individual category winners will be promoted in a media and retail campaign, with an online public vote determining the overall Cross Sports Book of the Year. 

The shortlists in full are as follows:

Cross Autobiography of the Year
No Nonsense: The Autobiography by Joey Barton (Simon & Schuster)
Unexpected: The Autobiography by Greg Rutherford (Simon & Schuster)
Watching the Wheels: My Autobiography by Damon Hill (Macmillan)
This Mum Runs by Jo Pavey (Yellow Jersey)
A Life in Football: My Autobiography by Ian Wright (Constable)
Unguarded: My Autobiography by Jonathan Trott (Sphere)

The Times Biography of the Year
His Own Man by Timothy Johnston & Donald Macgregor (Pitch Publishing)
The Maverick Mountaineer by Robert Wainwright (Atlantic Books)
Endurance by Rick Broadbent (Wisden)
For the Glory: The Life of Eric Liddell by Duncan Hamilton (Transworld)
Today We Die A Little by Richard Askwith (Yellow Jersey)
Showboat: The Life of Kobe Bryant by Roland Lazenby (Orion)

Cricket Book of the Year
Richie: The Man Behind the Legend by Ian Heads and Norm Tasker (Pitch Publishing)
A Beautiful Game by Mark Nicholas (Allen & Unwin)
Absolutely Foxed by Graeme Fowler (Simon & Schuster)
Stroke of Genius by Gideon Haigh (Simon & Schuster)
The Good Murungu by Alan Butcher (Pitch Publishing)
Unguarded: My Autobiography by Jonathan Trott (Sphere)

Cycling Book of the Year
Laura Trott and Jason Kenny: The Inside Track by Laura Trott & Jason Kenny (Michael O'Mara)
Triumphs and Turbulence: My Autobiography by Chris Boardman (Ebury Press)
The Cyclist Who Went Out in the Cold by Tim Moore (Yellow Jersey)
The Invisible Mile by David Coventry (Picador)
Shut Up Legs! by Jens Voigt (Ebury Press)
At the Edge: Riding for My Life by Danny MacAskill (Viking)

Specsavers Football Book of the Year
Forever Young by Oliver Kay (Quercus)
Mister by Rory Smith (Simon & Schuster)
No Nonsense: The Autobiography by Joey Barton (Simon & Schuster)
Fifty Years of Hurt by Henry Winter (Bantam Press)
Di Stéfano by Ian Hawkey (Ebury Press)
And the Sun Shines Now by Adrian Tempany (Faber & Faber)

Thomson Reuters Illustrated Book of the Year
The Lane by Adam Powley, Steve Perryman & Martin Cloake (Vision Sports Publishing)
Remarkable Cricket Grounds by Brian Levison (Pavilion)
Running Beyond by Ian Corless (Aurum Press)
Sprinter Sacre: The Impossible Dream by Brough Scott (Racing Post Books)
Chasing the Elements by Liv Williams (Meyer & Meyer Sport)
Formula One: The Pursuit of Speed by Maurice Hamilton, Paul-Henri Cahier & Bernard Cahier (Aurum Press)

International Autobiography of the Year
Find a Way by Diana Nyad (Macmillan)
The Battle by Paul O'Connell (Penguin Ireland)
The Artist: Being Iniesta by Andrés Iniesta (Headline)
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight (Simon & Schuster)
I Am Duran by Roberto Duran (Macmillan)
A B de Villiers: The Autobiography by A B de Villiers (Macmillan)

Freshtime New Writer of the Year
The Belt Boy by Kevin Lueshing with Mike Dunn (Austin Macauley Publishers)
How's Your Dad? by Mick Channon Jnr (Racing Post Books)
Eat Sweat Play by Anna Kessel (Macmillan)
Fearless by Jonathan Northcroft (Headline)
And the Sun Shines Now by Adrian Tempany (Faber & Faber)
Mister by Rory Smith (Simon & Schuster)

Arbuthnot Latham Rugby Book of the Year
Behind the Silver Fern by Tony Johnson & Lynn McConnell (Arena Sport)
Donal Lenihan: My Life in Rugby by Donal Lenihan (Transworld Ireland)
Front Up, Rise Up by Gerry Thornley (Transworld Ireland)
Nunquam Dormio by Brendan Gallagher (Vision Sports Publishing)
The Battle by Paul O'Connell (Penguin Ireland)
Terry Davies: Wales’s First Superstar Fullback by Terry Davies with Geraint Thomas (Y Lolfa Cyf)