PRH and Hachette lead William Hill longlist

Hachette has five books on the longlist for this year's William Hill Sports Book of the year, which celebrates excellence in sports writing, whilst Penguin Random House (PRH) has four. 

The PRH books in contention are Fear and Loathing on the Oche by King Adz (Yellow Jersey), about World Championship Darts, football title State of Play: Under the Skin of the Modern Game (Century), Tom Gregory’s autobiography A Boy in the Water (Particular Books) and Berlin 1936: Sixteen Days in August by Oliver Himes (Bodley Head), about the Nazi-run Olympics.

Constable, an imprint of Hachette company Little, Brown as two on the list - The Test by Nathan Leamon and Heads Up: My Life Story by Alan Smith, and Hodder, Weidenfeld & Nicolson and Summersdale, also part of Hachette, have one each: The Boy on the Shed by Paul Ferris, Sevens Heaven: The Beautiful Chaos of Fiji's Olympic Dream by Ben Ryan, and This Girl Ran: Tales of a Party Girl Turned Triathlete by Helen Croydon, respectively. 

Sandstone Press, a small Scottish independent, has two titles on the list: The Mountains Are Calling: Running in the High Places of Scotland and Bump, Bike & Baby: Mummy's Gone Adventure Racing by Moire O'Sullivan.

The longlist also includes Jenson Button’s Life to the Limit: My Autobiography (Blink) and a Tiger Woods exposé by journalists Armen Keteyian and Jeff Benedict, titled Tiger Woods (Simon & Schuster).

Graham Sharpe, chairman and co-founder of the award, said: “Over the last 30 years this award has been responsible for raising the quality and breadth of subject matter of books about sport, which was the aim from day one. Since our first year in 1989 more than 3,000  books have been entered for the award and, including this year, well over half a million pounds of prize money has been handed out to authors, making this the biggest and longest running commitment ever given to promoting sports books.”

The shortlist will be announced on 23rd October and the winner at a reception at BAFTA on 27th November. The winner will receive a £30,000 cash prize, a free £2,000 William Hill bet and a day at the races.

The longlist in full:

Fear and Loathing on the Oche by King Adz (Yellow Jersey, Penguin Random House)

Tiger Woods by Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian (Simon & Schuster)

Life to the Limit: My Autobiography by Jenson Button (Blink, Bonnier Books)

State of Play: Under the Skin of the Modern Game by Michael Calvin (Century, Penguin Random House)

This Girl Ran: Tales of a Party Girl Turned Triathlete by Helen Croydon (Summersdale Publishers)

The Boy on the Shed by Paul Ferris (Hodder & Stoughton)

The Lost Soul of Eamon Magee by Paul D. Gibson (Mercier Press)

You’ll Never Walk by Andy Grant (deCoubertin Books)

A Boy in the Water by Tom Gregory (Particular Books, Penguin Random House)

The Card by Steve Hill (Ockley Books)

Berlin 1936: Sixteen Days in August by Oliver Hilmes (The Bodley Head, Penguin Random House)

Chasing Points: A Season on the Pro Tennis Circuit by Gregory Howe (Pitch Publishing)

The Test by Nathan Leamon (Constable, Little Brown)

The Mountains Are Calling: Running in the High Places of Scotland by Jonny Muir (Sandstone Press)

Bump, Bike & Baby: Mummy’s Gone Adventure Racing by Moire O’Sullivan (Sandstone Press)

Sevens Heaven: The Beautiful Chaos of Fiji’s Olympic Dream by Ben Ryan (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, The Orion Publishing Group)

Heads Up: My Life Story by Alan Smith (Constable, Little, Brown)