The votes have been counted, the certificates are being printed, and we can at long last announce the winners of the 2021 British Backgammon Awards! The results were very close in many categories, reflecting just how many people have made a big contribution to the game in the last eighteen months – most of which had the additional challenge of being heavily restricted by Covid. Before I start on the winners, I’d like to offer congratulations to everyone who was nominated; you’ve all done so much for the game we love and just making it on to the shortlists is a big achievement. Well done all!
And now, the winners:
British Player of the Year – Live: Steve Bibby
After back to back wins in the UK Open and the Midlands Open, Steve added yet more to his trophy cabinet with a victory in the Memorial Tournament 2022 just a short while ago – remember that when the 2022 Awards come around! Although eight major tournament winners were in the running, Steve was the voters’ clear favourite.
British Player of the Year – Online: Gaz Owen
Also a Memorial Tournament winner, in 2021; Gaz became the inaugural winner of the newly formed UKBGF League division 1, and was also runner-up in the UKBGF P40 knockout running alongside it.
International Player of the Year: Mochy
Many of us will have been watching the UBC videos and left in awe at another superb display of backgammon. I certainly did, and I’ve run out of superlatives to describe what I saw – it was a level of the game us mere mortals can only dream of achieving.
Online Tournament Directors of the Year: Andrew Selby & David Potter
Andrew and David have had parts to play in a whole range of tournaments, from the UKBGF League and Cup to the London Open, the Memorial Tournament and Players’ Championship in both online form, and more recently in live form. A huge thankyou for keeping us all playing large events for so long!
Club Organiser of the Year: Ian Tarr
Just keeping a club functioning through the last year has been a major achievement, and all our nine nominees have clearly done that with their clubs growing and flourishing, but a lot of you nominated Ian for all the work he puts into the Bristol club, keeping both live and online events running like clockwork. This was the most keenly contested category of all, with a lot of very worthy nominees on the shortlist.
Online Site of the Year: BG Studio Heroes
Heroes remains the most popular platform by far amongst voters, and its popularity is plain to see given the number of players there at any one time (with Heroes 3 there to take the strain as well). An honourable mention for Backgammon Hub, a relative newcomer but already having a significant following.
Most Significant Contributor of the Year: Team UK & Martin Barkwill (captain)
Who can forget the excitement of watching the team reach the dizzying heights of the world team championship final in Trier? There were some real nail-biting moments along the way but a wonderful team performance took us to new heights as a backgammon-playing nation. We send Team UK off to Venice this year with our hopes set very high!
Most Courteous Player of the Year: Peter Hodson
I can’t help thinking of Peter’s utter surprise and delight at taking home a trophy from my last live Cambridge Open – a really colourful player, a pleasure to be sat opposite and a perfect gentleman.
We will be presenting certificates at live events in the near future – keep an eye out on Twitter and Facebook for pictures!
Nominations for the 2022 Awards will be open at the end of the year, so do start making notes… thankyou to everyone who voted, it was the biggest turnout so far. Let’s hope there are as many achievements to celebrate then!
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