BBC Sports Unsung Hero Award
The BBC Sports Unsung Hero Award[1] 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.[2]
The inaugural winner in 2003 was 63-year-old Nobby Woodcock, for "his unstinting work with grassroots football in Wales".[3] Of the ten recipients to date, three were chosen for their contributions to football; the other recipients contributed towards boxing, basketball, athletics, swimming, and the Special Olympics. Three of the ten winners have been put forward from the BBC South region and two from the BBC East region. The other winners came from the BBC London, BBC West Midlands, BBC East Midlands, BBC Scotland and BBC Wales regions. The most recent award was presented in 2014 to Jill Stidever.
Winners
By year
Year | Nationality | Winner | Location | BBC Region | Sport | Rationale | Note |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2003 | WAL | Nobby Woodcock | Newport, South Wales | BBC Wales[4] | Football | for "his unstinting work with grassroots football in Wales".[5] | [6] |
2004 | ENG | Abdullah Ben-Kmayal | Peckham, London | BBC London[7] | Football | for his work with Bethwin Football Club, a club he founded and funded personally.[8] | [9] |
2005 | ENG | Trevor Collins | Isle of Wight | BBC South[10] | Swimming | for more than 25 years work in administration and coaching at the West Wight Swimming Club.[10] | [11] |
2006 | ENG | Val Hanover | Oswestry, Shropshire | BBC West Midlands[12] | Special Olympics | for spending nearly 30 years organising Special Olympics for thousands of people with learning difficulties in North Shropshire.[13] | [14] |
2007 | ENG | Margaret Simons | Bicester, Oxfordshire | BBC South[15] | Football | for over 40 years of work with Bardwell FC, a community football team that she originally founded in 1964.[16] | [17] |
2008 | ENG | Ben Geyser | Dorchester, Dorset | BBC South[18] | Boxing | for setting up three boxing clubs, and campaigning for a permanent home for the Dorchester Amateur Boxing Club.[19] | [20] |
2009 | ENG | Doreen Adcock | Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire | BBC East[21] | Swimming | for teaching "over 13,000 people to swim in the town over the last 35 years".[22] | [22] |
2010 | ENG | Lance Haggith | Bedfordshire | BBC East[23] | Basketball | for providing children of differing abilities coaching in basketball.[24] | [25] |
2011 | SCO | Janice Eaglesham & Ian Mirfin | Scotland | BBC Scotland[26] | Athletics | for providing coaching to disabled athletes.[27] | [28] |
2012 | ENG | Sue & Jim Houghton | Leicester | BBC East Midlands[29] | Various | for transforming a derelict Leicestershire sports ground into a popular community facility for tennis, squash, association football, bowls and dance.[30] | [31] |
2013 | ENG | Joe & Maggie Forber | Manchester | BBC North | Basketball | recognised regionally for their hard work at the Amaechi Basketball Centre in Whalley Range. | [32] |
2014 | ENG | Jill Stidever | Hinckley, Leicestershire | BBC East Midlands | Swimming | for nearly 60 years' work helping children with special needs learn to swim. | [33] |
By region
This table lists the total number of awards won by the BBC Region through which the recipient qualified for the award.
Nationality | Number of wins |
---|---|
BBC South | 3 |
BBC East | 2 |
BBC East Midlands | 2 |
BBC London | 1 |
BBC North | 1 |
BBC Scotland | 1 |
BBC Wales | 1 |
BBC West Midlands | 1 |
By sport
This table lists the total number of awards won by the sport the recipient contributed towards.
Sport of contribution | Number of wins |
---|---|
Football | 3 |
Swimming | 3 |
Basketball | 2 |
Athletics | 1 |
Boxing | 1 |
Special Olympics | 1 |
Various | 1 |
References
General
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Specific
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