Lee Mottershead has been crowned Journalist Of The Year at the 45th annual HWPA Derby Awards Lunch, supported by Boylesports.com in conjunction with Spinal Research and the Spinal Injuries Association.
Mottershead, who was the youngest of four finalists and has been at the Racing Post throughout his career in racing, saw off stiff competition from freelance Julian Muscat and previous winners Chris McGrath and Alan Lee to win the coveted award for the first time in front of a sell-out crowd.
The Photographer Of The Year award also went to a first-time winner in Mel Fordham, whose work will be familar to anyone who has had a racing calendar or diary over the years. Fordham, whose portfolio beat those of past winners Edward Whitaker, Dan Abraham and Bill Selwyn, entered the competition for the first time this year after 32 years in the industry and recieved his prize from actress Eleanor Tomlinson.
Broadcaster of the year for a fourth time in the last five years is Nick Luck, of Racing UK and Channel 4, but this was no walkover. No fewer than 24 broadcasters received votes in this category, and the final four were completed by Mike Cattemole, Matt Chapman and John Hunt.
Carl Llewellyn collected the National Hunt Jockey of the Year award on behalf of A.P. McCoy, who was riding at Plumpton and winning this award for the 13th time, while National Hunt Trainer of the Year went to Grand National winner Donald McCain, who will be glad he was persuaded to make a rare trip to London.
With the exception of the Flat Jockey of the Year award, which went to gallant title runner-up Silvestre De Sousa, the Flat awards went to members of the Frankel team, with Sir Henry Cecil named Flat Trainer of the Year and Prince Khalid Abdullah Owner of the Year.
There was even an unprecedented award for Frankel himself, the first equine recipient of the President’s Award.
Sir Henry had previously been on stage when presenting the Stable Staff of the Year trophy to 77 year old Frank McMahon who has been working for Reg Hollinshead for over 40 years. There was also a posthumous award for trainer Michael Jarvis, who was one of the most popular and respected men in the sport. There were emotional scenes when Jarvis’s widow Gay and daughter Jackie, collected the George Ennor Trophy for Outstanding Achievement.
More details and photographs from the day will be posted here in due course. There are also a number of spare programmes available if anyone is interested, but that will also be available for download here at some point.
The HWPA would like to congratulate all the winners and nominees together with a huge thank-you to all our supporters Boylesports.com, Spinal Research and the Spinal Injuries Association.
The 45th Horserace Writers and Photographers Association Derby Awards Winners ;
National Hunt Jockey of the Year; A.P. McCoy, beat Jason Maguire, Sam Waley-Cohen and Ruby Walsh
International Trainer of the Year; Aidan O’Brien, beat Michael Bell, Marco Botti and Ed Dunlop
Stable Staff of the Year; Frank McMahon
Flat Trainer of the Year; Sir Henry Cecil, beat Mahmood Al Zarooni, John Gosden and Richard Hannon
Flat Jockey of the Year; Silvestre De Sousa, beat Paul Hanagan, Richard Hughes and Tom Queally
Owner of the Year; Prince Khalid Abdullah, beat Marwan Koukash, Pearl Bloodstock and Robert Waley-Cohen
George Ennor Trophy for Outstanding Achievement; Michael Jarvis
National Hunt Trainer of the Year; Donald McCain, beat Nicky Henderson, Willie Mullins and Paul Nicholls
President’s Award; Frankel
Photographer of the Year; Mel Fordham, beat Dan Abraham, Bill Selwyn and Edward Whitaker
Broadcaster of the Year; Nick Luck, beat Mike Cattermole, Matt Chapman, and John Hunt
Journalist of the Year; Lee Mottershead, beat Alan Lee, Chris McGrath and Julian Muscat
You may wish to read the submitted work of the nominated writers and they can be found here
All the portfolios entered by photographers for their award were on display at Cheltenham in November.
Thank you to all the members who took the time to enter these competitions.