Duncan Hamilton has won the 31st William Hill Sports Book of the Year award, becoming the only author in its history to have won three times. He was presented with the £30,000 cash prize for his biography of the Guardian’s late cricket correspondent Neville Cardus.
The Times sports correspondent, Alyson Rudd, chair of the judges, said: “We were bowled over by the quality of the writing and the way in which Hamilton brings to life the characters that defined cricket between the two world wars. The author explains that Neville Cardus was unknowable but this book does a very fine job indeed of guiding us through his career and motivations.”
The Great Romantic: Cricket and the Golden Age of Neville Cardus becomes the sixth cricket book to win the award and the first to do so since Hamilton’s work Harold Larwood in 2009. Hamilton also won in 2007 with Provided You Don’t Kiss Me, about Brian Clough.
Previous winners of the prestigious award include Nick Hornby, Brian Moore and Marcus Trescothick. The Guardian’s Donald McRae, who was also hoping to win his third William Hill award, was on the six-strong shortlist with his book In Sunshine or in Shadow: How Boxing Brought Hope in the Troubles.
Football is the most successful topic having won seven awards followed by cricket (six) and boxing (five). The William Hill Sports Book of the Year prize has been awarded annually since 1989.
