Cockroft takes Sports Journalists' Association top prize
Queen of the athletics track Hannah Cockroft was named Sportswoman of the Year (SJA) at the Sports Journalists’ Association Awards sponsored by The National Lottery.
The SJA Awards were first staged in 1949 and are the oldest sports awards in Britain. The winners are chosen through a ballot of the Association’s 750 memberships which includes many of the country’s leading sports writers, photographers and broadcasters.
Around 400 celebrity guests from sport, politics and the media were at the Pavilion at the Tower of London to acknowledge another amazing year of sporting achievement.
Cockroft won the majority vote in the Sportswoman category, edging out cricketer Tammy Beaumont and tennis player Johanna Konta. She becomes the first para athlete to win one of the three top awards.
She said:
“I cannot believe it. I don’t know what to say. Thank you for the nomination and thank you for this award. I like to make history but this is something new.”
The wheelchair sprinter has literally been unbeatable in senior competition. Out of 17 European, world and Olympic finals, she has won 17 gold medals in the T34 classification. In 2017 she finished first in the 100m, 400m, 800m at the World Para-Athletic Championships in London.
The National Lottery is in its sixth year of sponsoring the SJA awards event. The National Lottery plays a unique role in supporting the country’s elite athletes, with 700 Olympic and Paralympic medals having been won since Lottery funding was first awarded to elite athletes in 1997.
The National Lottery has also invested over £5 billion in grassroots sport to date, supporting more than 150 different sports and creating opportunities for everyone to get fit.
The Bill McGowran Trophy for achievements in para sport went to wheelchair tennis player Alfie Hewett, French Open singles and Wimbledon doubles winner, and Paralympic and triple world sprint champion Sophie Hahn.
Full list of 2017 winners
Sportsman of the Year
1. Chris Froome
2. Anthony Joshua
3. Adam Peaty
Mo Farah
James Anderson
Harry Kane
Jonnie Peacock
Sportswoman of the Year
1. Hannah Cockroft
2. Tammy Beaumont
3. Johanna Konta
Anya Shrubsole
Jodie Taylor
Bianca Walkden
Elise Christie
Sports Team of the Year
1. England women’s cricket
2. Men’s 4x100m relay
3. England men’s U20 football
British and Irish Lions
England U17 football
England men’s rugby
Lincoln City
Other awards
The National Lottery Spirit of Sport Award: Kate Richardson Walsh & Helen Richardson Walsh (Hockey)
- SJA President’s Award: Anya Shrubsole (Cricket)
- JL Manning Award for services off the field of play: Brendan Foster (Athletics)
- SJA Committee Award: Danny Cowley and Nicky Cowley (Football)
- SJA World Sport Achievement Award: Bianca Walkden (Taekwondo)
- SJA Bill McGowran Trophy for achievement in para sport: Alfie Hewett (Wheelchair Tennis) & Sophie Hahn (Para Athletics)
- SJA Peter Wilson Trophy for international newcomer: Reece Prescod (Athletics)
- SJA Chairman’s Award: Howard Wilkinson (Football)
- SJA Pat Besford Award for outstanding performance of the year: Men’s 4 x 100 Metre Relay Team (Athletics)
