So, as I warned might happen, the 2014 Sports Book of the Year prize has been won by a book first published in 2013...
Anna Krien's Night Games: Sex, Power and Sport, which has been lauded around the globe for its portrayal of a 'grotesque culture of contemptuous, vicious misogyny' (according to The Independent), was first published in Australia in May 2013. Or what we on the sports desk normally refer to as 'last year'.
Anna Krien posing alongside the circumspect cover of her award-winning book that has been used in Britain. She is only the second woman to win the Bookies' Award in 26 years Let's not quibble about this, it is undoubtedly a strong book on an important subject. Announcing the winner on Thursday, the William Hill Sports Book Award judges described it as a "balanced yet fearless" investigation. It's just that it is a 2013 balanced and fearless investigation.
The Bookie Prize judges have form in this respect. They did they same in 2006, when Geoffrey Ward's Unforgivable Blackness was handed the loot with a book which had been first published in 2005. It is what happens when a book is published in another country - the United States in Ward's case, Australia with Krien's book - and then is repackaged and republished here. How this year's four overlooked authors (there was another, 2013-first-published title on this year's shortlist) feel about being trumped in this way is not recorded.
But one other thing of interest about the winner also emerged on Thursday. Krien is only the second woman to win the Sports Book of the Year in the 26-year history of the award.
Now, there are some skewed figures for the entries - which tend to come from the larger, better-resourced publishers. So there may be some sports books published in the past year that don't get entered, and just don't get a look in.
But nevertheless, according to the organisers, fewer than 1 in 10 of all the books entered have been written by women.
Night Games follows the controversial rape trial of an Aussie Rules player. According to Graham Sharpe, the spokesman for the sponsors, “Quite possibly only a woman could have written it in as personal and perceptive a manner.
“It remains disappointing that on average, under 10 per cent of the books submitted each year are written by females, and we hope that Anna’s success will encourage many more women to write about sport.”
The Bookie Prize judges have form in this respect. They did they same in 2006, when Geoffrey Ward's Unforgivable Blackness was handed the loot with a book which had been first published in 2005. It is what happens when a book is published in another country - the United States in Ward's case, Australia with Krien's book - and then is repackaged and republished here. How this year's four overlooked authors (there was another, 2013-first-published title on this year's shortlist) feel about being trumped in this way is not recorded.
But one other thing of interest about the winner also emerged on Thursday. Krien is only the second woman to win the Sports Book of the Year in the 26-year history of the award.
Now, there are some skewed figures for the entries - which tend to come from the larger, better-resourced publishers. So there may be some sports books published in the past year that don't get entered, and just don't get a look in.
But nevertheless, according to the organisers, fewer than 1 in 10 of all the books entered have been written by women.
Night Games follows the controversial rape trial of an Aussie Rules player. According to Graham Sharpe, the spokesman for the sponsors, “Quite possibly only a woman could have written it in as personal and perceptive a manner.
“It remains disappointing that on average, under 10 per cent of the books submitted each year are written by females, and we hope that Anna’s success will encourage many more women to write about sport.”
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