The BAWA Athlete of the Year is an award presented by the British Athletics Writers' Association (BAWA) to the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

athletes voted to have been adjudged to have been best of the year in British

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

. They are presented each autumn at the Association's annual awards which have been running since 1963. There are male and female award categories for senior, junior and

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

athletes. The most frequent winner of the main award is

Mo Farah Sir Mohamed Muktar Jama Farah (born Hussein Abdi Kahin; 23 March 1983) is a British long-distance runner. His ten global championship gold medals (four Olympic and six World titles) make him the most successful male track distance runner ever ...

Winners

Senior Awards

The awards began in 1963. In 2011, the senior awards were renamed in honour of two highly esteemed BAWA members, the John Rodda Award for men and the Cliff Temple Award for women.

Junior Awards

In 2011, the junior athlete awards were also renamed to the Jim Coote Memorial Award for junior men and the Lilian Board Memorial Award for junior women.

Para Awards

The Paralympic Athlete of the Year categories were introduced by British Athletics Writers in 2013, following the success of the

2012 Paralympic Games The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Other Awards

The Ron Pickering Award is awarded for services to athletics. Introduced in 2011, the BAWA Inspiration Award is given in recognition of an athlete who made an outstanding performance in a single event, performed well against the odds, or is retiring after a long and distinguished career.

Notes

References

{{Athletics awards British sports trophies and awards Sports trophies and awards Sport of athletics awards Disabled sports awards Awards established in 1963 1963 establishments in the United Kingdom