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BBC Sports Personality of the Year voting information plus terms and conditions

BBC
·11 min read

The BBC Sports Personality of the Year programme will take place at MediaCity in Salford on Tuesday, 17 December 2024. The nominations processes, criteria and voting details (where applicable) for each award are outlined below.

BBC Sports Personality of the Year award

This award goes to the sportsperson whose sporting actions have most captured the UK public's imagination during 2024.

An expert independent panel (hereafter 'the Panel') convened in November 2024 to decide the shortlist of sportspeople for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.

The BBC Sports Personality of the Year production team provided the Panel with an extensive list of the top sportspeople from 2024, including information on their achievements. The Panel were free to consider other potential candidates.

The Panel selected a shortlist of sportspeople for the main award on the basis of the following criteria:

  • Reflected UK sporting achievements on the national and/or international stage;

  • Represented the breadth and depth of UK sports; and

  • Took into account 'impact' of the person's sporting achievement beyond the sport in question.

Sportspeople were eligible to be nominated for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award if they were UK citizens or all of the following criteria apply:

  • they played a significant amount of their sport in the UK; and

  • their core achievements that year were achieved in the UK, and not with a non-UK based team (in which case they would more likely qualify for the World Sport Star award); and

  • they were residents in the UK.

Non-playing coaches or management were not eligible.

The Panel produced a shortlist based on reaching a consensus view. If a consensus view could not be reached on all or some of the candidates, then the Panel were asked to vote for the remaining candidates. In the event of a tied vote, the decision of the chairperson (Director, BBC Sport) was binding.

The Panel have the right to amend elements of this or other awards such as the criteria or numbers shortlisted, should a consensus view be reached - provided such changes remain within the spirit of the award.

Alex Kay-Jelski, Director of BBC Sport, chaired the panel which consisted of representatives from the world of sport.

The 2024 shortlist of contenders will be announced before the main show. The public will then vote for the winner of the award during the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2024 programme on Tuesday, 17 December 2024 (see below).

In the event of:

A tie in the public vote amongst the two contenders obtaining the highest number of votes, the award will be shared amongst those two. There will be no award in the second place category and the third place category award will go to the contender scoring highest after the two in the tie.

A tie in the public vote amongst the three contenders obtaining the highest number of votes, the award will be shared amongst the three and there will be no awards in the second and third place categories.

A tie in the public vote amongst two contenders obtaining the second highest number of votes, the second place award will be shared amongst those two and there will be no award in the third place category.

A tie in the public vote amongst two contenders obtaining the third highest number of votes, the third place award will be shared amongst those two.

The Panel will undertake a back-up vote for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award in the unlikely event of problems with the public vote.

Sports Personality of the Year public vote terms and conditions

Voting for the main award will take place during the live show on 17 December 2024. Voting will be available by phone, the BBC Sport app or via the BBC Sport website. The number to call for each contender will be revealed during the programme. There is no voting via email, Red Button or by text. The telephone numbers will be available through Red Button and via the BBC website. For votes by telephone, you can vote a maximum of 3 times per telephone number.

Telephone Vote: Voters in the UK can choose either to call from their landline using the long (11-digit) number for the contender(s) of their choice or from their mobile phones using the short (7-digit) number for the contender(s) of their choice. Please note that callers from the Channel Islands and Isle of Man should call from their landlines using the long (11-digit) number to avoid higher mobile charges, as the short (7-digit) numbers are not available in the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for reasons outside of the BBC's control.

Calls to the long (11-digit) number from landlines and mobiles cost 15p plus your network's access charge. Calls from mobiles to the short (7-digit) number cost 15p per vote and should cost less than calling the long (11-digit) number from your mobile so please, if you can, dial the short (7-digit) number from your mobile. You cannot text and you cannot dial the short (7-digit) number from a landline. Please do not attempt to vote by calling a 7-digit short number from a landline.

Online Vote: Viewers who wish to vote online will need to sign in to a BBC account at https://www.bbc.com/signin. If you do not have a BBC account, you can register for one for free at https://www.bbc.com/register. If you have any trouble registering or signing in, you can visit the help pages at https://www.bbc.com/signin/help. Please check your broadband or mobile contract to check the cost of using data services.

Online votes will be limited to one vote per BBC account. The online vote will be open during the same period as the telephone lines. The results of the telephone vote and the online vote will be aggregated prior to any announcements.

If you are watching BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2024 on BBC iPlayer, following through a website or any other time shift, catch-up or on-demand service you should not vote since the lines and online vote may have closed and your vote won't count.

Voting is only open to individuals as consumers from the UK, and not to any agencies, businesses and/or companies. Please note that BBC, BBC Group, Telescope and Whisper North employees who are in any way connected to the vote, their close relatives or anyone directly connected in any way with the production of the programme or the provision of telephony services to the programme are not eligible to vote.

You must obtain the phone bill payer's permission before voting.

Opening and closing times will be specified on the programme.

Please be sure you carefully dial only the number of the contender(s) for which you wish to vote for.

Please do NOT call before the lines open, or after the lines have closed, as your vote will not be counted. The winner will be announced live on the programme.

The BBC reserves the right to disqualify votes if it has reasonable grounds to suspect that fraudulent, excessive or suspicious patterns of voting have occurred or if it considers there has been any attempt to rig the voting. The BBC has the right to substitute an alternative selection method at its absolute discretion. For the purposes of investigating possible voting irregularities when voting on BBC web pages using BBC account the BBC may use cookies, log IP addresses or analyse the information from your BBC account. The BBC will not publish this information or provide it to anyone without permission, except where required for enforcement of these terms. For more information please see: BBC Privacy Policy, how the BBC uses cookies and BBC online Terms of Use.

All voting will be overseen by an independent verification service.

The BBC reserves the right to cancel or suspend voting at any time if it has reasonable grounds to suspect that fraudulent voting has occurred or if it considers there has been any deliberate attempt to manipulate the result. In the event of any such cancellation or suspension, a technical failure or any other malfunction with the vote, the BBC reserves the right to arrange for the winner to be decided by a contingency arrangement from the votes cast by the shortlisting panel (see above for details). The BBC can only guarantee that votes individually entered directly through the telephone numbers promoted by the BBC and those validly registered through the Sports Personality website and app will count.

The BBC, its sub-contractors, subsidiaries and/or agencies cannot accept any responsibility whatsoever for: (i) any technical failure or malfunction, nor for any other problem with any telephone network or line, system, server, provider or otherwise which may result in any vote not being properly registered or recorded.

This vote complies with the BBC's Code of Conduct for Competitions and Votes: BBC Code of Conduct for Voting. Voters are subject to the BBC Privacy Policy and BBC online Terms of Use. Find out for more information on how the BBC uses cookies.

These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of England and Wales.

World Sport Star of the Year award

This award goes to the world sport star whose has achieved the most notable sporting success on a world stage during 2024.

The award is not open to those sportspeople who qualify for the main BBC Sports Personality of the Year award under its qualification criteria (see above).

The Panel produced a shortlist based on reaching a consensus view. If a consensus view could not be reached on all or some of the candidates, then the Panel were asked to vote for the remaining candidates. In the event of a tied vote, the decision of the chairperson (Director, BBC Sport) was binding.

The winner of the award will be decided by an online-only public vote on the BBC Sport website an app in advance of the live programme. The winner will be announced during the live programme on Tuesday, 17 December 2024.

Coach of the Year award

This award goes to the coach who has made the biggest impact on sport in the UK during 2024.

For the purpose of this award, the term 'coach' includes roles such as managers, coaches, trainers and performance directors.

The Panel will decide the winner for the Coach of the Year award based on reaching a consensus view. If a consensus view cannot be reached, then the Panel will be asked to vote. In the event of a tied vote, the chairperson's decision is binding.

The winner will be announced either in advance of, or during the live programme on Tuesday, 17 December 2024.

Team of the Year award

This award goes to the team in a sporting discipline, individual sport or sporting event that has achieved the most notable performance during 2024.

The team must have significant UK interest or involvement.

The Panel will decide the winner for the Team of the Year award based on reaching a consensus view. If a consensus view cannot be reached, then the Panel will be asked to vote. In the event of a tied vote, the chairperson's decision is binding.

The winner will be announced either in advance of, or during the live programme on Tuesday, 17 December 2024.

Young Sports Personality of the Year

This award goes to the outstanding young sportsperson aged 17 or under on 1 January 2024

Young sportspeople are eligible to win the award if they are citizens of the UK or all three of the following criteria apply:

  • they play a significant amount of their sport in the UK; and

  • their core achievements that year were achieved in the UK, and not with a national team (in which case they would more likely qualify for the World Sport Star of the Year award); and

  • they are residents in the UK.

The YSPOTY Panel met to shortlist the contenders. They selected the top three contenders to and also decided a winner by secret ballot and the final vote was independently verified.

An expert independent panel convened in November 2024 to decide a shortlist of three for the award and also to decide a winner by secret ballot. The final vote is independently verified.

The three finalists were announced in advance of the live broadcast on Radio 1. The winner will also be announced during the live programme on Tuesday, 17 December 2024.

Helen Rollason award

This is a special BBC award recognising outstanding achievement in the face of adversity. It is decided by senior management in BBC Sport.

The recipient(s) of the award will be announced either in advance of, or during the live programme on Tuesday, 17 December 2024.

Lifetime Achievement award

This award honours someone who has made a major impact on the world of sport during their lifetime. It is decided by senior management in BBC Sport.

The recipient of the award will be announced either in advance of, or during the live programme on Tuesday, 17 December 2024.

Unsung Hero award

There will be 15 recipients of the Unsung Hero award - one from each of the BBC nations and regions. A judging panel of industry professionals will then decide on one overall winner, who will be announced live at the Sports Personality of the Year awards show, which will take place in December at MediaCityUK in Salford. Find out more at bbc.co.uk/unsunghero