Lord Aberdare Literary Prize for Sports History

Call for submissions of books published in 2024

The Lord Aberdare Literary Prize is awarded each year by the British Society of Sports History for the best book on any aspect of the history of sport in Britain or for the best book on any aspect of sports history written by a British author.

The British Society of Sports History appoints a panel of three judges to consider submissions. The prize will be awarded at the Society’s conference (to be held at the University of Ulster in August 2025) and the winner will be invited to present a paper to the conference the following year (in 2026).

The Society would welcome submission of any books published in 2024 that meet the criteria outlined above. Please note that the book must have a 2024 publication. Reprints, new editions, and paperback editions of books previously issued as hardbacks before 2023 are not eligible. Pre-released books with advance publication dates of 2025 that appeared in 2024 are ineligible until next year and will be held over. The judges’ decision on eligible books is final.

Edited collections and symposia do not qualify.

Previous Winners of the Lord Aberdare Literary Prize

  • 2023 - Matthew Brown, Sports in South America: A History (Yale University Press).
  • 2022 - Alex Jackson, Football's Great War: Associated Football on the English Home Front, 1914 - 1918 (Pen & Sword Books).
  • 2021 - Heather Dichter, Bidding for the 1968 Olympic Games: International Sport’s Cold War Battle with NATO (University of Massachusetts Press).
  • 2020 - Robert Colls, This Sporting Life: Sport and Liberty in England 1760-1960 (OUP).
  • 2019 - Prashant Kidambi, Cricket Country: An Indian Odyssey in the Age of Empire (OUP).
  • 2018 - Richard Mills, The Politics of Football in Yugoslavia: Sport, Nationalism and the State (Taurus).
  • 2017 - Eric Chaline, Strokes of Genius: A History of Swimming (Reaktion Books).
  • 2016 - Rob Haynes, BBC Sport in Black and White (Palgrave).
  • 2015 - Tony Collins, The Oval World: A Global History of Rugby (Bloomsbury).
  • 2014 - Rob Lake, A Social History of Tennis In Britain (Routledge).
  • 2013 - David Snowdon, Writing the Prizefight: Pierce Egan’s Boxiana World (Peter Lang).
  • 2012 - Kevin Jefferys, Sport and Politics in Modern Britain. The Road to 2012 (Palgrave Macmillan).
  • 2011 - Simon Martin, Sport Italia: the Italian Love Affair with Sport (I.B. Tauris).
  • 2010 - Kay Schiller & Christopher Young, The 1972 Munich Olympics and the Making of Modern Germany (University of California Press).
  • 2009 - Tony Collins, A Social History of English Rugby Union (Routledge).
  • 2008 - Kasia Boddy, Boxing: A Cultural History (Reaktion Books).
  • 2007 - Emma Griffin, Blood Sport: Hunting in Britain since 1066 (Yale University Press).
  • 2006 - Paul Dimeo, A History of Drug Use in Sport, 1876 -1976: Beyond Good and Evil (Routledge).
  • 2005 - Tony Collins, Rugby League in Twentieth Century Britain: A Social and Cultural History (Routledge).
  • 2004 - Emma Griffin, England’s Revelry: A History of Popular Sports and Pastimes, 1660-1830 (The British Academy/Oxford University Press).
  • 2003 - Simon Martin, Football and Fascism: The National Game under Mussolini (Berg).

Submission Process

Should you wish to enter any books for the Aberdare prize this year, please confirm your intentions to the chair of the panel, Erica Munkwitz, by email:

📧 Erica Munkwitz <munkwitz@american.edu>

You will receive a response with the names and postal details of the three members of the judging panel and should forward a copy of your nominated title to each of them by the deadline given below.

📅 The deadline for submissions is 30th April 2025 (late entries will not be considered).