Helen Rollason Awards

BBC Sport Personality of the Year
The Helen Rollason Award
The Helen Rollason BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award is a special award for outstanding achievement in the face of adversity. The award is named after Helen Rollason MBE who was the first female presenter of Grandstand.

The winner is selected by BBC Sport annually and presented at the BBC Sport Personality of the Year Award Ceremony.

Winners of The Helen Rollason Award:

2008 – Alistair Hignell (cricket & rugby union)
for fundraising and raising awareness of multiple sclerosis since being diagnosed with the disease in 1999.

2007 – Oscar Pistorius (athletics) for his fight to be allowed to race in both the Olympics and Paralympics 2008.

2006 – Paul Hunter (snooker) awarded posthumously in recognition of his bravery and determination to continue playing while battling cancer.

2005 – Geoff Thomas (football) for raising more than £150,000 for Leukaemia Research by cycling, following his own battle with the disease.

2004 - Kirsty Howard (mascot accompanying David Beckham in FIFA World Cup qualifier v Greece, final carrier in the Queen’s Baton Relay in the 2002 Commonwealth Games) for raising money for poorly children in Francis House Hospice via Kirsty’s Appeal, despite having an inoperable heart condition.

2003 – Michael Watson (boxing) for completing the London Marathon and raising millions for the Brain and Spine Foundation despite being told he would never walk again.

2002 - Jane Tomlinson (amateur athlete in marathons and triathlons) for completing the London Marathon, a triathlon and Great North Run while raising money for Cancer Research, after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

2001 – Ellen MacArthur (sailing) for her courage in becoming fastest woman to circumnavigate the globe.

2000 – Tanni Grey-Thompson (athletics) for winning gold in the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m events at the Sydney Paralympics 2000.

1999 – Jenny Pitman (horse racing) for one of national hunt’s greatest trainers, who retired in 1999 after suffering from cancer.

Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year Awards
Helen Rollason Award for Inspiration

This is a special Sunday Times Award to recognise inspirational endeavour in sport. The award was set up in memory of Helen Rollason MBE who was first female presenter of Grandstand.

The winner is selected by the Sunday Times annually and presented at the Sportswomen of the Year Award.

Winners of The Helen Rollason Award for Inspiration:

2009 - Dee Caffari, Yachtswoman. A world record holder in her own right, she became the first woman in history to circumnavigate the world in both directions single-handedly. It took her 99 days to sail round the right way and 178 to sail round the wrong way.

2008 - Julie Shard, mother of four from Cheshire. She clinched the award at Lord’s Cricket Ground, London, for her 20 years’ of dedicated volunteering with the Special Olympics Great Britain – the sports programme for the learning disabled.