The other day, it was announced that this year’s winners of the British Sports Book Awards, for the first time sponsored by the pen-maker Cross, will be publicised on Wednesday, 3 June. The ceremony will be held at the legendary Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. The event will be filmed for broadcast as a one hour Highlights Programme on SkySports sometime after 7 June.

The Cross Awards have the following categories:

Autobiography of the Year
Biography of the Year
Cricket Book of the Year
Football Book of the Year
Horse Racing Book of the Year
Rugby Book of the Year
Cycling Book of the Year
Illustrated Book of the Year
Outstanding General Sports Writing Award
New Writer of the Year

Looking through the shortlist there is actually a ‘rowing’ book among the six titles in the category Cross New Writer Award. The book is Salt, Sweat, Tears by Adam Rackley. About the book, the Cross British Sports Book Awards writes on its website:

Fewer people have rowed across the Atlantic than have climbed Everest. Adam Rackley is among them. For 70 days he and his rowing partner ate, slept and rowed in a boat seven metres long and two metres wide, in one of the world’s most extreme environments. He was following in the wake of a handful of others who have successfully made the crossing – a pair of Norwegian fisherman crossing in 1896, the notorious smuggler and shark hunter John Fairfax in 1969 – and many more who haven’t survived the attempt. This is the story of all these journeys, filled with adventure, endurance and self-discovery.

The Cross British Sports Book Awards is the major annual promotion for Sports Writing & Publishing and have been handed out since 2002. The awards exist to highlight the most outstanding sports books of the previous calendar year, to showcase their merits and to enhance their reputation and profile.

Get more details here.