Boxing journalist and two-time winner Donald McRae and England cricket legend Sir James Anderson headline the shortlist for the 2025 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award (#SBOTY2025) the world’s most prestigious and long-standing prize in sports literature. 

McRae, who previously won in 1996 and 2002, is nominated for The Last Bell: Life, Death and Boxing — described as his most personal and powerful work to date, exploring the decline of the sport he has chronicled for five decades. 

Pitching in, Anderson is shortlisted for Finding the Edge, co-written with podcast co-host and The Maccabees guitarist Felix White, offering rare insight into the mindset of England’s greatest fast bowler.

The SBOTY shortlist includes the other nominees:

• Ultra Women – Lily Canter and Emma Wilkinson
• States of Play – Miguel Delaney
• Engulfed – James Montague
• Test Cricket – Tim Wigmore
• The Escape: The Tour, The Cyclist and Me – Pippa York and David Walsh

Chaired by Alyson Rudd, the 2025 judging panel includes Clarke Carlisle, Elis James, Gabby Logan, Mark Lawson, Dame Heather Rabbatts and Michelle Walder.

Rudd commented: “This is a heavyweight shortlist where the dominant theme is power and the influence of the state over sport. Cricket is well represented, and all the books are exceptionally written. It will be quite the task for the judging panel to decide upon a winner.”

The winner will be announced at a central London ceremony on Tuesday, 25 November, receiving a £30,000 prize and the iconic William Hill trophy. Each shortlisted author will take home £3,000 and a leather-bound copy of their book.

Founded in 1989, the William Hill Sports Book of the Year remains the longest-running and most valuable literary prize in global sports writing, celebrating authors who bring the drama and human depth of sport vividly to life.