It’s not every day this happens!

I’m very pleased and proud to announce that I have been nominated for “The New Writer of The Year 2012” at  British Sports Book Awards.

I’m not being coy here when I say I really don’t expect to win, there are some seriously strong and impressive books in my category and I would think that I’m a rank outsider……but I’m used to that and thrive on it to be honest. For the record I think that either the Ghostrunner or Amongst The Fans must be the favourites. You can see the shortlist here
I’m just very happy to be in the mix, I never EVER expecting anything like this when I embarked on putting my story to paper….and I’m constantly blown away by the reaction people have to my book and the fact that thousands of people have read it from all corners of the globe ( strange phrase that, as the globe is round?!?)

What’s also really cool is that this is the first time EVER that a Triathlon book has been nominated, so I’ve got a first in our sport….ahhh I’m savouring that…let’s face it, it’s never going to happen in a race ha ha.
I’m also the only non sports star / journalist / broadcaster to be nominated – which considering the shortlists are drawn up by a panel of journalists is pretty good.

There are also lots of other categories such as Football Book of the year, Cricket Book, Rugby book and Autobiography. To see the full shortlists have a look here. Pitch Publishing / Known The Score who are my publisher have got three other books nominated apart from mine which is a great achievement. These are

Got, Not Got: The A-Z of Lost Football Culture
Tony Greig: A Reappraisal of English Cricket’s Most Controversial Captain
Sporting Chancer: One Man’s Journey to Take on The World

I’ve known about the nomination for a couple of months but I’ve been subject to a confidentiality clause that would have seen my nomination withdrawn if the news had got out.

To celebrate the nomination my publisher has brought out a new Awards edition cover, which is pretty cool. It also contains the reviews inside from the likes of Alistair Brownlee, Cat Morrison, Dean ‘UltraMarathon Man’ Karnazes, Huw Bennett and others. I think it’s pretty cool.

New Awards Cover

The award winners will be announced Oscar style when envelopes are opened on the night. It’s going to be a sports star studded ceremony at the very posh Strand Hotel ( hope they let me in ) in London on the 21st May. It’s the 20th year that the awards have been going and the organisers promise that the anniversary celebrations will be special. They are giving an award to one of Em’s favourite authors, Nick Hornby, hope she gets to meet him.
The ceremony will actually be televised here in the UK on Sky Sports so I’d better practice my “I’m happy you won ” face for when the cameras zoom in on me.

If you noticed the date above you’ll realise that it’s only two days after Lanza, hope I’m in one piece to make it there. If by some miracle I win, it could take me an hour to limp up onto the stage, hope they have a good tv editor, or I could just send Em up in her posh frock to accept it on my behalf, after all without her none of this would have been possible.

Right I’m off to try on my new dinner suit and to practice doing up a bow tie, it’s almost as complicated as gear ratios!