BWF Awards

BWF Awards

Sport	Badminton
Awarded for	Excellence in Badminton
Sponsored by	Badminton World Federation
History
First award	1998
Editions	26
First winner	Peter Gade
Most wins	Lee Chong Wei Huang Yaqiong Leani Ratri Oktila
Most recent	Shi Yuqi An Se-young

BWF Awards are awards given by the Badminton World Federation to the top badminton players during a given season.

Players of the Year

From 1998 to 2007, this award was named Eddy Choong Player of the Year.

Year	Male Player	Female Player	Ref
1998	Peter Gade	—	[1]
1999	—	Camilla Martin
2000	Candra Wijaya	—
2001	—	Gao Ling
2002	Kim Dong-moon	—
2003	Kim Dong-moon	Ra Kyung-min
2004	Taufik Hidayat	—
2005	Taufik Hidayat	—
2006	Lin Dan	—
2007	Lin Dan	—
2008	Lin Dan	Zhou Mi
2009	Lee Chong Wei	Wang Yihan
2010	Lee Chong Wei	Wang Xin
2011	Lee Chong Wei	Wang Xiaoli Yu Yang	[2]
2012	Cai Yun Fu Haifeng	Wang Yihan
2013	Lee Chong Wei	Li Xuerui	[3]
2014	Chen Long	Zhao Yunlei	[4]
2015	Chen Long	Carolina Marín
2016	Lee Chong Wei	Misaki Matsutomo Ayaka Takahashi
2017	Marcus Gideon Kevin Sukamuljo	Chen Qingchen
2018	Marcus Gideon Kevin Sukamuljo	Huang Yaqiong
2019	Kento Momota	Huang Yaqiong	[5]
2020–2021	Viktor Axelsen	Tai Tzu-ying	[6]
2022	Viktor Axelsen	Akane Yamaguchi	[7]
2023	Seo Seung-jae	An Se-young	[8]
2024	Shi Yuqi	An Se-young

Pairs of the Year

Year	Men's Doubles	Women's Doubles	Mixed Doubles	Ref
2020–2021	—	Greysia Polii Apriyani Rahayu	—
2022	—	—	Zheng Siwei Huang Yaqiong	[7]
2023	—	Chen Qingchen Jia Yifan	—	[8]
2024	Liang Weikeng Wang Chang	Liu Shengshu Tan Ning	Feng Yanzhe Huang Dongping

Players' Player of the Year

Year	Male Player	Female Player	Ref
2024	Viktor Axelsen	An Se-young

Rising Star of the Year

This was awarded from 2008 to 2023 as the Most Promising Player of the Year. In 2024, it was renamed Rising Star of the Year.

Year	Player	Ref
2008	Saina Nehwal	[9]
2009	Ratchanok Intanon	[1]
2010	Viktor Axelsen
2011	Zulfadli Zulkiffli
2012	Kento Momota
2013	Akane Yamaguchi
2014	Akane Yamaguchi
2015	Zheng Siwei
2016	Chen Qingchen
2017	Chen Yufei
2018	Han Chengkai Zhou Haodong
2019	An Se-young
2020–2021	Kunlavut Vitidsarn
2022	Kodai Naraoka	[7]
2023	Liu Shengshu Tan Ning	[8]
2024	Alex Lanier

Para-players of the Year

This award was first presented in 2015. ^[10]

Year	Male Player	Female Player	Ref
2015	Lee Sam-seop	Helle Sofie Sagøy	[5]
2016	Lucas Mazur	Karin Suter-Erath
2017	Kim Jung-jun	Amnouy Wetwithan
2018	Jack Shephard	Leani Ratri Oktila
2019	Qu Zimo	Leani Ratri Oktila
2020–2021	Qu Zimo	Leani Ratri Oktila
2022	Daiki Kajiwara	Manisha Ramadass	[7]
2023	Daiki Kajiwara	Rina Marlina
2024	Qu Zimo	Liu Yutong Li Fengmei

Para-pair of the Year

Year	Pair	Ref
2020–2021	Lucas Mazur Faustine Noël
2022	Thomas Wandschneider Rick Hellmann
2023	Hikmat Ramdani Leani Ratri Oktila
2024	Hikmat Ramdani Leani Ratri Oktila

Best-dressed of the Year

This award is given to the best-dressed player at the Gala held prior to the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals and its predecessor, the BWF Super Series Finals.

Year	Male Player	Female Player	Ref
2013	Ko Sung-hyun	Tai Tzu-ying	[11]
2015	Chou Tien-chen	Ratchanok Intanon	[10]
2016	Viktor Axelsen	Woon Khe Wei	[12]
2017	Srikanth Kidambi	Tai Tzu-ying	[13]
2018	Shi Yuqi	P. V. Sindhu	[14]
2019	Viktor Axelsen	Ratchanok Intanon	[15]
2022	Prannoy H. S.	Busanan Ongbamrungphan	[7]
2023	Chen Tang Jie	Jongkolphan Kititharakul	[8]
2024	He Jiting	Gayatri Gopichand

Defunct category

In 2024, BWF announced a brand-new structure for the awards. This led to a category becoming defunct. ^[16]

Most Improved Player of the Year

Year	Player(s)	Ref
2016	P. V. Sindhu
2017	Yuki Fukushima Sayaka Hirota
2018	Mayu Matsumoto Wakana Nagahara
2019	Kim So-yeong Kong Hee-yong
2020–2021	Lee Yang Wang Chi-lin
2022	Fajar Alfian Muhammad Rian Ardianto
2023	Jiang Zhenbang Wei Yaxin

References

1. Hearn, Don (11 December 2018). "Big winners awarded on BWF's 'Night of Nights'". badzine.net. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
2. "(Badminton) Chong Wei bags fifth BWF best male player of the year award". New Straits Times . Bernama. 13 December 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
3. "WINNERS SAVOUR BWF AWARDS". bwfbadminton.com. 26 May 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
4. "Badminton: Chen, Zhao, Yamaguchi honoured with BWF awards". sport-asia.com. 17 December 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
5. "Awards". corporate.bwfbadminton.com. Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
6. "BWF Player of the Year Award Winners 2020/2021". bwfbadminton.com. Retrieved 2021-12-03.
7. "AXELSEN, ZHENG AND HUANG REWARDED FOR STELLAR SEASONS". bwfbadminton.com. 5 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
8. "YEAR-END HONOURS FOR SEO SEUNG JAE, AN SE YOUNG". bwfbadminton.com. 11 December 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
9. "Saina named 'The most promising player of the year'". The Times of India . 8 December 2008. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
10. Sukumar, Dev (8 December 2015). "CHEN, MARIN CROWNED BWF PLAYERS OF THE YEAR". bwfbadminton.com. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
11. Leung, Edwin (19 May 2013). "CHINESE PLAYERS IN SPOTLIGHT ON BWF AWARDS NIGHT". bwfbadminton.com. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
12. "CHONG WEI CREATES HISTORY AS ASIAN SHUTTLERS SWEEP BWF AWARDS". badmintonasia.org. 14 December 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
13. Banerjee, Sudeshna (12 December 2017). "Srikanth Kidambi wins 'Best Dressed Player' award at BWF Gala". Sportskeeda . Retrieved 22 December 2019.
14. Sukumar, Dev (11 December 2018). "YEAR-END HONOURS FOR MINIONS, HUANG YAQIONG". bwfbadminton.com. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
15. "'It's not easy,' says Thai ace on Finals eve". Bangkok Post. 11 December 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
16. "New structure for BWF Awards from 2024". BWF.