Lineker, Neville and Rashford among those nominated for the 2023 Sports Book Awards

Gary Lineker, Gary Neville and Marcus Rashford are among those nominated for the 2023 Sports Book Awards, an annual prize for sports writing and publishing.

Alex Scott, Peter Crouch, Gabby Logan and Micah Richards are also featured in the 11 category shortlists, alongside Steve Thompson, Beth Mead, Sue Barker and Mark Noble.

The aim of the awards is to highlight "the most outstanding sports books of the previous calendar year, to showcase their merits and enhance their reputation and profile".

Mark Pougatch will host the 21st Sports Book Awards, which will take place at the Kia Oval on the evening of 24th May. A Bat For A Chance will be the 2023 Sports Book Awards charity of choice.

New for this year is the New Women’s Sports Writing award, which will be named in honour of Vikki Orvice, a sports journalist who championed female sports writing. The prize will be judged by Nick Greenslade, Dame Katherine Grainger, Sue Anstiss, Anya Shrubsole, Susie Petruccelli and Lewes c.e.o. Maggie Murphy.

Orvice’s husband, Ian Ridley, said: "Vikki was a great champion of the written word and was often frustrated by the limited opportunities and lack of opportunities for women to see their writing commissioned and showcased. This welcome award plays a big part in putting that right and I am proud that it will be in her name, the use of which I readily agreed to as I know she would have readily endorsed it."

The Sports Book Awards are judged by an academy including The Football Writers’ Association, The Rugby Union Writers’ Club, The Cricket Society, National Literacy Trust, Christine Ohuruogu, Baroness Tanni Grey Thompson, Mark Pougatch, Annie Vernon, Simon Halliday, Jill Douglas and Simon Brotherton.

A public vote is also now open to find the winners in two categories, Autobiography of the Year and Sports Entertainment Book of the Year.

The full shortlists can be found here.