‘JOURNEYMEN’ UP FOR WILLIAM HILL PRIZE

Pitch Publishing is a fantastic imprint.
They do all the great Got, Not Got series
and plenty of other retro sports titles.

James Brown, The Late Tackle, talkSPORT

Pitch Publishing show the way for enterprising
sports book publishers and remains a beacon
of hope for sports authors aspiring or established.

The Sports Bookshelf.com

Pitch Publishing, an outfit whose "pitch perfect"
commissioning of boxing material stands
as a rebuke to more established houses

Boxing Monthly

Pitch capture the real spirit of sport with entertaining
and clever ideas. They work out what the aficionado
would want to read, then deliver it with great verve.

Paul Hayward, The Daily Telegraph

Pitch have enabled me to write in the ways I enjoy most.
Their production support is superb, delivering eye-catching
designs, attentive proof-reading, energetic marketing and helpful advice.

Tim Quelch, Good Old Sussex by the Sea, Orient to the Emirates, Underdog!

Pitch are willing to back out-of-the-blue and innovative
ideas and turn them into viable, entertaining books.
They do so with great presentation and editorial flair.

Justin Parkinson, Then Came Massacre

Pitch saw the potential in my story, used their expertise
to polish it, published it and helped inspire thousands
around the world to get into the sport of triathlon.

Andy Holgate, Can’t Swim, Can’t Ride, Can’t Run & Can't Sleep, Can't Train, Can't Stop

The process of working with Pitch to produce Picking up the Threads
was enjoyable and rewarding, with the final edition surpassing
expectations and becoming a resounding success.

John Chandler, Picking up the Threads

Pitch will take a chance on books that other publishers won't
and realise that interest in football extends beyond the
Premier League and the top 20 countries in the FIFA rankings.

Steve Menary, Outcasts!

Pitch have the vision to look beyond the obvious,
seeking out interesting ideas and subjects and
matching them with the right target audience.

David Tossell, Tony Greig, The Great English Final, Grovel!, Natural

Pitch have been an absolute joy to work with,
contributing their passion, expertise, knowledge
and experience to help produce a brilliant book.

Sam Pilger, Ashes Match of My Life

Pitch took our original concept and further enhanced it,
using their knowledge, experience and expertise, and helped
make Got, Not Got one of the football books of the year for 2011.

Derek Hammond, Got, Not Got series of books

Pitch bought into the concept of development through football,
channeling profits and proceeds from Eleven into helping
some of the most disadvantaged young people in the world.

Steve Fleming, Eleven

In the highly competitive world of sport publishing,
Pitch have consistently demonstrated the happy
knack of spotting, nurturing and promoting winners.

Neil Dunkin, Anfield of Dreams

24 Sep

‘JOURNEYMEN’ UP FOR WILLIAM HILL PRIZE

Today the starting line-up was revealed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year, aka ‘the Bookie Prize’, which is the richest sports book prize – and we’re proud to announce that Mark Turley’s Journeymen has been nominated for the longlist.

Books which focus on the often brutal and corrupt dark side of sport – including one on the trial of the Paralympian, Oscar Pistorius, and another on the recent FIFA scandals – make up nearly one third of the longlist of the 27th William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award. In A Man’s World: The Double Life of Emile Griffith, Donald McRae, who faces the possibility of a record third win, explores the boxer’s long career, the homophobia he faced and his struggle to come to terms with the death of an opponent following their last, terrible fight.

Those competing with McRae for the Award, the most prestigious of its kind, include: Journeymen: The Other Side of the Boxing Business by Mark Turley, which tells the story of the modern-day boxers who lose for a living, over and over again; Fifty-Six: The Story of the Bradford Fire by Martin Fletcher, a survivor of the disaster that killed his father, brother, uncle and grandfather, and which was never properly explained; The Trials of Oscar Pistorius – Chase Your Shadow by John Carlin; and Heidi Blake & Jonathan Calvert’s The Ugly Game: The Qatari Plot to Buy the World Cup, which sheds new insight into the revelations that shook the football world to its core.

Though the books on this year’s longlist cover eight different sports in total, titles about football are prevalent. As well as The Ugly Game and Fifty-Six, football is the subject of both Living on the Volcano: The Secrets of Surviving as a Football Manager by Michael Calvin, and The Game of Our Lives: The Meaning and Making of English Football by David Goldblatt.

The longlist in full (alphabetically by author’s surname):

The Ugly Game: The Qatari Plot to Buy the World Cup by Heidi Blake and Jonathan Calvert (Simon & Schuster)
Speed Kings by Andy Bull (Bantam Press)
Living on the Volcano: The Secrets of Surviving as a Football Manager by Michael Calvin (Century)
The Trials of Oscar Pistorius: Chase Your Shadow by John Carlin (Atlantic Books)
Kings of the Road: A Journey into the Heart of British Cycling by Robert Dineen (Aurum Press)
A King in Hiding: How a Child Refugee Became a World Chess Champion by Fahim, Sophie Le Callennec, Xavier Parmentier and Barbara Mellor (translator) (Icon)
Fifty-Six: The Story of the Bradford Fire by Martin Fletcher (Bloomsbury)
The Game of Our Lives: The Meaning and Making of English Football by David Goldblatt (Viking)
Runner: A Short Story About A Long Run by Lizzy Hawker (Aurum Press)
Fire in Babylon by Simon Lister (Yellow Jersey)
A Man’s World: The Double Life of Emile Griffith by Donald McRae (Simon & Schuster)
The Bolt Supremacy by Richard Moore (Yellow Jersey)
My Fight/Your Fight: The Official Ronda Rousey Autobiography by Ronda Rousey and Maria Burns Ortiz (Century)
Journeymen: The Other Side of the Boxing Business by Mark Turley (Pitch)

Click here for more information, or to read a sample from Journeymen: The Other Side of the Boxing Business.

William Hill Media Relations Director and co-founder of the Award, Graham Sharpe, said: “Never let it be said sportswriters shy away from difficult subjects. In this longlist, our authors shine their floodlights into many of sport’s dark corners, but also find inspirational tales of individual and team success. While football is the most written about subject, it is wonderful to see areas less widely covered - endurance running, bobsledding and chess, whose status as a sport may provoke some debate - included. These books deserve a wide audience – I hope their inclusion here helps them find it.”

The William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award is the world's longest established and most valuable literary sports-writing prize. As well as a £27,000 cash prize, the winning author will receive a free £2,500 William Hill bet, a leather-bound copy of their book, and a day at the races. The judging panel for this year’s Award consists of: retired professional footballer and former chairman of the Professional Footballer’s Association, Clarke Carlisle; broadcaster and writer John Inverdale; broadcaster Danny Kelly; award-winning journalist Hugh McIlvanney; and columnist and author, Alyson Rudd. Chairman of the judging panel is John Gaustad, co-creator of the Award and founder of the Sportspages bookshop.

The shortlist will be announced on 27th October. The winner will be announced at an afternoon reception at BAFTA, in central London, on Thursday 26th November.