BBC Sports Personality of The Year Award - Nomination Procedure

Nomination Procedure

The shortlist is announced at the beginning of December, and the winner is determined on the night of the ceremony by a public telephone vote. Prior to 2012, a panel of thirty sports journalists each submit a list of ten contenders. From these contenders a shortlist of ten nominees was determined—currently, in the event of a tie at the end of the nomination process, a panel of six former award winners determines the nominee by a Borda count. However, this method was criticized following the selection of an all-male shortlist in 2011. The selection process for contenders has been changed for the 2012 (and future) awards as follows:

The BBC introduced an expert panel. The panel will be asked to devise a shortlist that reflects UK sporting achievements on the national and/or international stage, represents the breadth and depth of UK sports and takes into account ‘impact’ within and beyond the sport or sporting achievement in question.

The 2012 panel comprised:

• Barbara Slater, Director of BBC Sport (Chair)
• The BBC’s Head of TV Sport (Philip Bernie)
• The Executive Editor of BBC Sports Personality of the Year (Carl Doran).
• A representative from BBC Radio 5 Live – this year, Eleanor Oldroyd.
• Three national newspaper sports editors (to be rotated annually) – this year, Mike Dunn (The Sun), Lee Clayton (Daily Mail) and Matthew Hancock (Observer)
• Three former nominees (to be appointed annually) – this year, Sir Steve Redgrave, Baroness Tanni Grey Thompson and Denise Lewis OBE
• A pan-sports broadcaster/journalist – this year, Sue Mott
• Baroness Sue Campbell, Chair of UK Sport.

In 2012, following the success of the London 2012 Olympic Games, the SPOTY shortlist was expanded to 12 contenders.