The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the United Kingdom or Ireland. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the British Phonographic Industry and British Association of Record Dealers in 1992 as an alternative to the Brit Awards.
The BBC Sports Team of the Year Award is an award given annually as part of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony each December. Currently, the award is given "for the team in an individual sport or sporting discipline that has achieved the most notable performance in the calendar year to date. The team should have significant UK interest or involvement". From 2012 the award's recipient is decided by an expert panel selected by the BBC. For some years before 2012 a panel of over 30 sporting journalists, each of whom voted for their top two choices and followed a defined set of voting criteria. Before that, the winner of the Team of the Year Award has been chosen by public vote and picked by listeners of Radio 5 Live.
The BBC World Sport Star of the Year is an award presented at the annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year award ceremony. The award is presented to a non-British sportsperson considered to have made the most substantial contribution to a sport in that year. The award was decided by a panel of over 30 sporting journalists. Each panellist voted for their top two choices; their first preference was awarded two points, and their second preference was awarded one point. The winning sportsperson had the most total points. In the case of a points tie, the sportsperson chosen as first preference by the most panellists is the winner. If this is also a tie the award is shared. In 2015 the public voted for this award.
The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award is an award given annually as part of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony each December. The award is given to a sportsperson "who has made a major impact on the world of sport during their lifetime". The winner is selected by BBC Sport. When football manager Alex Ferguson won the award in 2001, the BBC described the award as "a new accolade" to be presented annually; however, two people had already received the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award is presented at the annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year award ceremony. It is awarded to the sportsperson aged 17 or under as of 1 January of that year, who has made the most outstanding contribution to sport in that year. Nominees have to be British citizens or are residents who "play a significant amount of their sport in the UK" with their solo "core achievements" being undertaken in the UK. As of 2024, nominations are put forward by a judging panel which includes representatives from the BBC, Youth Sport Trust, a Blue Peter presenter, a young Blue Peter "guest" judge and sporting talent who then decide on a ten-person shortlist. The panel later reconvenes to choose the top three, and decides on the winner by secret ballot.
Sir Anthony Peter McCoy, commonly known as AP McCoy or Tony McCoy, is a Northern Irish former National Hunt horse racing jockey. Based in Ireland and Britain, McCoy rode a record 4,358 winners, and was Champion Jockey a record 20 consecutive times, every year that he was a professional.
Sir Mohamed Muktar Jama Farah is a Somali-British former long-distance runner. Considered one of the greatest runners of all time, his ten global championship gold medals make him the most successful male track distance runner in the history of the sport, and he is the most successful British track athlete in modern Olympic Games history.
Thomas Robert Daley is an English retired diver, YouTuber and television personality. He is an Olympic champion in the men's synchronised 10-metre platform event at the 2020 Olympics and double world champion in the FINA 10-metre platform event, winning in 2009 at the age of fifteen, and again in 2017. He is an Olympic bronze medallist in the 2012 platform event, the 2016 synchronised event, and the 2020 platform event. He won the silver medal in the men's synchronised 10-metre at the 2024 Olympics, making him the first British diver to win 5 Olympic medals. Daley also competed in team events, winning the inaugural mixed team World title in 2015, and repeating the win in 2024, his fourth World title in all. He is an Olympic champion, four-time World Champion, a two-time junior World Champion, a five-time European champion and four-time Commonwealth champion.
The BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year is a televised sporting competition, broadcast on BBC Two every year; and the most prestigious annual sport award in Wales. It was first awarded in 1954, and is currently organised by BBC Cymru Wales. Following a trial in 2002, the competition has been open to public voting, rather than a decision being made within the competition prior to this. It later reverted to being chosen by an expert panel of judges.
Eve Muirhead is a Scottish former curler from Perth and the skip of the British Olympic Curling team. Muirhead and the GB team became Olympic champions at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, having previously won the bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Rebecca Adlington is an English former competitive swimmer who specialised in freestyle events in international competition. She won two gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the 400-metre freestyle and 800-metre freestyle, breaking the 19-year-old world record of Janet Evans in the 800-metre final. Adlington was Britain's first Olympic swimming champion since 1988, and the first British swimmer to win two Olympic gold medals since 1908. After winning her first World Championship gold over 800 metres in 2011, along with silver in the 400 metres at the same meet, she won bronze medals in both the women's 400-metre and 800-metre freestyle events in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Adlington is one of the few people to have won Olympic Games, World Championships, European championships and Commonwealth Games gold medals.
The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of just a singular award of the same name. Several new awards have been introduced, and currently eight awards are presented.
The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach Award is an award given annually as part of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony each December. The award is given to the coach who was considered to have made the most substantive contribution to British sport in that year. The award is decided by a panel of over 30 sporting journalists. Each panellist votes for their top two choices; their first preference is awarded two points, and their second preference is awarded one point. The winning coach is the one with the largest points total. In the case of a points tie, the person chosen as first preference by the most panellists is the winner. If this is also a tie the award is shared.
The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award is an award given annually as part of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony each December. The award is given “for outstanding achievement in the face of adversity”, and BBC Sport selects the winner. The award is named after the BBC sports presenter Helen Rollason, who died in August 1999 at the age of 43 after suffering from cancer for two years. Helen Rollason was the first female presenter of Grandstand. After being diagnosed with cancer, she helped raise over £5 million to set up a cancer wing at the North Middlesex Hospital, where she received most of her treatment.
The BBC Sports Unsung Hero Award is an award given annually as part of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony each December. The award is given to the sportsperson who has made a substantive yet unrecognised contribution to sport. Sportspeople are nominated by the public, and must be aged 16 years or over on 1 January that year. Nominees may not put themselves forward or be nominated by a member of their immediate family. A nominee must actively help others participate in a sport at any level on a voluntary basis. The work they do must not be part of their job or take part within their places of work, and they must not be a participant in the sporting group they are helping. Previous winners of the award are ineligible for nomination. One winner is selected from each of the twelve BBC English Regions, and the three national regions: BBC Scotland, BBC Wales, and BBC Northern Ireland. A judging panel then chooses the Unsung Hero winner from the fifteen regional winners.
The Premier League Player of the Season is an annual association football award presented to players in England, which recognises the most outstanding player in the Premier League each season. The recipient is chosen by a panel assembled by the league's sponsors consisting of members of "football's governing bodies, the media and fans", and is announced in the second or third week of May. For sponsorship purposes, from 1994 to 2001 it was called the Carling Player of the Year; from 2001 to 2004 as the Barclaycard Player of the Year; and from 2004 to 2016 as the Barclays Player of the Season. Since the 2016–17 season, it is called the EA Sports Player of the Season.
The 2009 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, held on 13 December, was the 56th presentation of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards. It was presented by Sue Barker, Jake Humphrey, and Gary Lineker on BBC One. Awarded annually by the BBC, the main titular award honours an individual's British sporting achievement over the past year. The winner is selected by public vote from a 10-person shortlist. Other awards presented include team, coach, and young personality of the year.
