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BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award 2023: When is it and who are the nominees?
The Corporation's venerable Spoty prize celebrates its 70th anniversary in December: which channel is it on and what are the latest odds?
The annual awards ceremony, honouring a host of sportspeople with various prizes culminating in awarding one of them the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, is celebrating its 70th or platinum anniversary in December 2023. Established in 1954, Spoty does not necessarily reward the best sporting performance of the year but, as a public vote, recognises the ‘personality’ who has most captivated the British public over the past calendar year.
What is it?
Spoty is an annual awards and review programme, organised and hosted by the Corporation, that began in 1954 by looking back at each major sport’s year before crowning a BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Now in its eighth decade, the show has mushroomed to incorporate seven other distinct prizes alongside the main award: World Sport Star of the Year, Team of the Year, Lifetime Achievement, Young Sports Personality of the Year, Coach of the Year, Unsung Hero, Greatest Sporting Moment of the Year and the Helen Rollason Award, inaugurated to commemorate the life of the BBC presenter who dies in 1999 at the shockingly young age of 43, and presented for “outstanding achievement in the face of adversity”.
When is it?
The event takes place on Tuesday, December 19 and broadcast live, with voting open to the public during the programme via phone, the BBC Sports app and website. The show is broadcast on BBC One.
Where is it?
The event is held at Media City in Salford, with tickets available on application to BBC Shows and Tours from Monday, November 27.
What time will it start?
Coverage begins at 7pm GMT and is due to finish at 9pm GMT.
How can I watch it?
BBC One and BBC iPlayer will broadcast the show, presented, as it was last year, by Gabby Logan, Clare Balding, Gary Lineker and Alex Scott, live. You may also follow the event by reading our live blog.
Who are the nominees?
A shortlist of six will be published in the build-up to the event. In the past, to allow for postal votes, this was usually done several weeks in advance of the programme but last year was left until the eve of the show because voting now only takes place during the broadcast itself.
Leading contenders for at least a place on the shortlist include Mary Earps, England’s goalkeeper who helped her side into their first Women’s World Cup final, Stuart Broad, the England bowler who announced his retirement after a glorious 16-year international career at the end of the drawn Ashes, Frankie Dettori, the great Flat jockey who won his seventh Oaks and fourth 2,000 Guineas in 2023 and then treated us to a Frank Sinatra-style whirlwind retirement and comeback, Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who won her second decathlon gold at the World Championships, and Jude Bellingham who continues to shine a torch for English football talent both with the national team and during his sensational early months at Real Madrid.
Which sports have won the main prize most?
Athletics lead the way by a wide margin with 18 wins out of 69, followed by:
F1 8
Tennis 7
Football 6
Cricket, boxing, cycling 5 each
Figure skating 3
Golf, swimming and eventing 2 each
Snooker, show jumping, racing, rugby union, motorcycle racing, rowing 1 each
What are the latest odds?
- Mary Earps 4/5
- Stuart Broad 5/2
- Frankie Dettori 12/1
- Katarina Johnson-Thompson 16/1
- Jude Bellingham 40/1
- Marcus Smith 66/1
- Josh Kerr 66/1
- Tom Aspinall 66/1
- Dan Evans 66/1
- Max Burgin 80/1
Who won last year?
Beth Mead, player of the tournament and top scorer at Euro 2022 for England, became the first women’s footballer to win the award, complementing her tournament victory. The Lionesses also took home the team of the year gong and Sarina Wiegman was crowned coach of the year.
Delighted by slightly bemused by winning it, Mead said she could now “die happy”, adding “I still find it quite surreal. I’m Beth Mead, I kick a bag of air around a football pitch. It is quite humbling.
“Women’s sport is heading in the right direction and that’s where we want it to continue to head. You look at the podium tonight, there are two women there. It is incredible how far football has come – cricket, rugby, curling, gymnastics. We want to keep pushing that even more for the next generation.”