Kelly Holmes memoir shortlisted for William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2024

Double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes has been shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2024, alongside five other authors chosen from a longlist of 17 titles.

Holmes’ memoir, Unique, charts her journey from military service to Olympic glory, and addresses her decision to conceal her sexuality until publicly coming out in 2022. She is one of three women on the shortlist, alongside former swimmer Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushell, author of These Heavy Black Bones, and Khalida Popal, co-founder and former captain of the Afghanistan women’s football team, whose book My Beautiful Sisters details her work exposing sexual abuse in Afghan football.

The remaining shortlisted titles are Munichs by David Peace, which examines Manchester United’s history following the 1958 Munich air disaster; The Racket, the memoir of former Irish tennis professional Conor Niland; and When I Passed The Statue Of Liberty I Became Black, a posthumously published memoir by Harry Edward, Britain’s first Black Olympic medallist.

Judging and prize

This year’s winner will be chosen by a seven-strong judging panel comprising Alyson Rudd, Clarke Carlisle, Gabby Logan, Dame Heather Rabbatts, Mark Lawson and Michelle Walder. The result will be revealed at an awards ceremony in central London on Tuesday 19 November, with the winning author receiving £30,000 along with the trophy.

Last year’s prize went to former US national champion runner Lauren Fleishman for Good for a Girl: My Life Running in a Man’s World.

Alyson Rudd, chair of the judging panel, said selecting six titles from the longlist had been difficult, describing the shortlisted books as offering a diverse range of perspectives across athletics, football, swimming and tennis, and tackling themes such as sexual identity and race relations.

The announcement was issued by William Hill via Square in the Air Communications.