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Distinguished Judging Panel Announced to Select This Year’s William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award Winner
The most prestigious literary prize in the sporting world has announced its esteemed judging panel. Comprising six highly respected individuals, the distinguished panel will be responsible for selecting the William Hill Sports Book of the Year shortlist and ultimately crowning the award’s 35th winner.
The award is one of the most esteemed literary honours in the sporting arena and is the world’s most valuable sports-writing prize. Established in 1989, it recognises and celebrates outstanding writing across a wide range of genres.
Alyson Rudd (pictured) will lead the panel as Chair for the fifth year running. As an acclaimed award-winning sports journalist at The Times with a deep passion for the written word having overseen the paper’s Book Group, a qualified football coach and referee and author of two sports books and two novels, Alyson’s extensive experience in the field makes her an ideal choice to guide the panel in their quest to identify the finest sports book of the year.
Joining Alyson on the panel are five renowned personalities, each bringing their unique expertise and perspective to the selection process:
Dame Heather Rabbatts will make her inaugural appearance on the panel this year. She is renowned for her ground-breaking accomplishments in the field of sports administration and broadcasting and her commitment to diversity and inclusivity has been widely recognised. As the first woman to hold the position of Director of the Football Association, she has been instrumental in driving positive change within the industry. Her profound understanding of the sports landscape and dedication to excellence will provide valuable support to the other judges in their deliberations.
Also joining the panel for the first time is Elis James. As a prominent sports podcaster, presenter and comedian, Elis infuses humour and wit into his analysis of various sports. His ability to engage and entertain audiences will undoubtedly give a refreshing perspective to the judging panel.
Michelle Walder has re-joined the judging panel for a second year. As a Brighton and Hove Albion FC non-executive board member and chair of Brighton and Hove Albion Women’s FC, Michelle has a wealth of experience in the sporting industry alongside running her own business specialising in leadership and coaching since 2004.
Accomplished broadcaster, writer and journalist Mark Lawson also joins the panel once again. As a critic and feature writer for The Guardian and theatre critic of The Tablet, Mark has a profound appreciation for the art of storytelling. He was the first presenter of Radio 4’s Front Row and has written six books. In 2006, he described becoming a William Hill Sports Book of the Year judge as one of his greatest ambitions in sport.
Former professional footballer-turned-broadcaster Clarke Carlisle brings his unique perspective as an athlete and commentator to the judging panel. His football career spanned almost two decades and all four top-flight divisions and, as a regular ITV football pundit and co-commentator, his deep understanding of the inner workings of the sporting world will provide valuable insight during the selection process. Clarke is also no stranger to the award with his first appearance as a judge back in 2012 but stood down in 2013 to write his autobiography A Footballer’s Life, which reached the 2014 longlist.
Following a rigorous process that reviews all entries to produce a longlist, the judging panel will evaluate each one to reveal the award shortlist. Finally, the panel will crown the overall winner of the 35th William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award at an official award ceremony on November 30 at BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly, London, ensuring that only the most exceptional sports book receives this prestigious accolade.
Chair of the Judging Panel, Alyson Rudd, said: “I am truly honoured to serve as Chair of Judging for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award once again. The award celebrates the power of storytelling and, whilst sport is a huge field, entries are quite intimate and stories very personal.
“The award has a long-standing tradition of celebrating first-class sports writing and I’m excited to be leading our new and diverse judging panel as we preside over exceptional stories and the authors who bring these tales to life.”
The longlist will be revealed on September 28, with the shortlist being announced on October 26. The winner will be declared on November 30 and will receive a cash prize of £30,000. All shortlisted authors will each receive £3,000 and a specially produced leather-bound copy of their book.
Last year, Beryl: In Search of Britain’s Greatest Athlete, Beryl Burton, from Jeremy Wilson (pictured) scooped the 2022 award.
For more information about the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award, please visit: https:// news.williamhill .com/sport/sports-book-of-the-year/.
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UNIVERSITY Esports UK and Ireland launches its Spring 2025 Season: learn more about the games, schedules and signups
UNIVERSITY Esports is back for its Spring 2025 Season, which is open to students from universities across the UK and Ireland and brings with it five tournaments and six weeks of action across Overwatch 2, League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics, and VALORANT. The tournaments will give students the opportunity to showcase their competitive skills against their peers, while also helping to build the grassroots gaming community – as participants play with their friends and make new ones.
This season of UNIVERSITY Esports follows high participation in the previous Winter 2024 Season, where over 600 teams and 3,000 players took part every week. UNIVERSITY Esports currently counts more than 20,000 people across more than 110 universities registered in the community.
Broadcasts of the Winter 2024 Grand Finals were produced by students from the Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies (at Nottingham Trent University), in partnership with UNIVERSITY Esports staff to support the next generation of broadcasters.
Beyond competition
UNIVERSITY Esports, a grassroots esports organiser in the UK and Ireland operated by NUEL (a subsidiary of GGTech Entertainment), is about much more than just online competition, and also plays a big role in fostering communities and providing career opportunities and education.
Winter also saw the return of the UNIVERSITY Tour, an in-person series of events aimed at raising awareness of the esports community and building real-life connections between players. Nottingham Trent University and the University of Staffordshire hosted these face-to-face activities, with hundreds of students engaged about the benefits of participating in the esports community both professionally and to have fun.
Spring 2025 Tournament schedule
Signups are now open for the UNIVERSITY Esports Spring 2025 Season, and the tournaments will take place over February and March. Winning teams will be awarded with a shared £2,550 prize pool.
Key dates are as follows:
Overwatch 2
– Signups Close: Saturday 8th February
– Games Begin: Monday 10th February
Teamfight Tactics
– Signups Close: Sunday 9th February
– Games Begin: Tuesday 11th February
Women and Non-Binary VALORANT
– Signups Close: Tuesday 11th February
– Games Begin: Tuesday 18th February
League of Legends
– Signups Close: Monday 10th February
– Games Begin: Wednesday 12th February
Open VALORANT
– Signups Close: Tuesday 11th February
– Games Begin: Thursday 13th February
To take part, players need to verify their student status (if they haven’t already in Winter), and either create or join a team. Interested players can find out more information and register at universityesports.co.uk, and on the Discord.
The post UNIVERSITY Esports UK and Ireland launches its Spring 2025 Season: learn more about the games, schedules and signups appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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GGBET UA is the official sponsor of FC Dynamo Kyiv’s winter training camp
FC Dynamo Kyiv are continuing their winter training in Turkey, in preparation for the second half of the season in 2025. Their partner for the training period this year is GGBET UA.
The club’s CEO, Dmytro Brif, thanked GGBET UA for its support and underscored the importance of the training camp for the team’s future success:
“We are hugely grateful to GGBET UA for its partnership during this important period. Today, our efforts are focused on improving our game, working on our mistakes, and getting ready for upcoming matches. In the spring, we’re set on achieving the very best results we can in all tournaments.”
GGBET UA CEO Sergii Mishchenko stated that partnering up with Dynamo involves not just working together on the winter training camp, but also continuing with larger-scale joint projects geared towards the team’s fans:
“Within the partnership, we’re actively working with the club and are planning to create exciting content featuring the players and coaches. All of this helps to reduce the distance between the professional footballers and the regular fans, which is what we’re striving to do.”
Dynamo’s next winter training camp match will take place on 6 February at 17:00 in the Turkish city of Belek. The club will be facing off against KF Shkëndija, a team from North Macedonia. A live stream will be available on Dynamo’s YouTube channel.
The post GGBET UA is the official sponsor of FC Dynamo Kyiv’s winter training camp appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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Blask integrates comprehensive licensing data
Blask, the AI-driven market analytics ecosystem, has added extensive regulated market data to its algorithm, which now analyses hundreds of reports from gambling commissions, tax authorities, industry experts and operators around the world.
The new input means Blask can deliver an accurate, multilingual, real-time picture of the regulatory situation in more than 40 iGaming markets, with many more to be added over the coming months.
By integrating verified data from regulatory bodies and gambling commissions, Blask can now provide:
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A market-by-market breakdown of local and offshore licence holders
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Tax rate insights to assess market profitability
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Advanced dashboards for strategic decision making
Max Tesla, CEO of Blask, said: “Regulated markets are evolving rapidly these days, and staying ahead requires accurate, real-time data. By integrating verified regulatory data directly into the Blask platform, we’re giving operators and other stakeholders the ability to make smarter decisions with absolute confidence. This is a huge leap forward in strategic market analysis.”
The new data has been seamlessly integrated into the Blask dashboard. Users can view details of the regulatory authority governing a market. For brands operating under local licences, Blask now features comprehensive licence information, including type and dates of issuance and expiration.
The Blask team has worked tirelessly to automate the analysis of hundreds of reports in multiple languages and from numerous different trusted sources. This includes brands that offer open data.
The post Blask integrates comprehensive licensing data appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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