From Times Online
March 8, 2010

Mike Atherton named Sports Writer of the Year and Columnist of the Year

The Times picks up four awards at the Sports Journalists’ Association awards, matching its success of last year

Mike Atherton, The Times’ chief cricket correspondent, was crowned Sports Writer of the Year last night at the British Sports Journalism Awards.

The former England captain, right, was also named Columnist of the Year at sports journalism’s Oscars night in London, having been named Specialist Correspondent of the Year 12 months ago.

Atherton, who is the first former sportsman to win the award, was praised for his insight and the clarity of his writing.

In the judges’ citation, one sports editor described his work as “peerless on his own sport, entertaining, throught-provoking and challenging on any other subject”.

Another sports editor said “his elegant style, thoughtful but incisive opinions were, in an Ashes-winning year, indispensable”.

Atherton was unable to collect his award in person but send a recorded message from Chittagong, where he is preparing for England's first Test against Bangladesh, which gets underway on Friday.

Atherton played 115 Tests for England, 54 as captain, and scored 7,728 runs before retiring to the Press Box at the end of the 2001 Ashes series.

There were also awards last night for Owen Slot, The Times’ chief sports reporter, who retained the title of Feature Writer of the Year, and Kevin Eason, who was named Internet Writer of the Year.

Click on the headlines on the left to read the articles that won our writers their awards