BT Sport Action Woman of the Year Awards 2019 celebrate the outstanding achievements in women’s sport

• Shortlist of nominees includes women from the world of motorsport, football, athletics, martial arts, cycling and equestrian sport

• Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on Monday 9th December and broadcast live for anyone to watch on BT Sport, online and on Twitter

• The vote is open to the public now at btsport.com/actionwoman2019

BT has announced the nominees for the seventh annual BT Sport Action Woman of the Year Award, in association with The Telegraph. In what has been yet another groundbreaking year for women’s sport, the award celebrates eight of 2019’s standout performances by British female athletes.

From the Women’s World Cup attracting record numbers of UK viewers to a British winner of the first all-female single-seater motorsport competition, 2019 has been a fantastic year for women’s sport with success across the board: Catriona Matthew MBE oversaw a thrilling European victory in the Solheim Cup, England women’s rugby union team regained the Six Nations and sealed a ninth Grand Slam in the process while on an individual level, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Dina Asher-Smith captured the hearts of a nation with gold medals at the World Athletics Championships.

Based on athletes’ individual achievements, a shortlist of nominees has been selected by a panel of judges including BT Sport’s Clare Balding OBE and Rachel Brown-Finnis, Caroline Barker, Tammy Parlour MBE co-founder of the Women’s Sport Trust, Jude Kelly CBE Director of the WOW foundation and Adam Sills, Head of Sport at the Telegraph.

In addition to the individual award, BT Sport will recognise team and lifetime contributions with two awards that further celebrate women’s sport: both the ‘Team of the Year’ and the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ will be also presented on the night.

Simon Green, Head of BT Sport, said: ‘It has been an incredible, record-breaking year for women’s sport, both for individuals and teams. From football and horse racing to motorsport and martial arts, we are proud to celebrate the achievements of our nominees and hope that their performances will inspire the next generation of athletes. We would encourage everyone to continue to show their appreciation and admiration by voting for their favourite sportswoman of 2019. To enable as many people to watch as possible we will also be making the awards available for anyone to watch on BT Sport 1, on the App and btsport.com and on Twitter.”

The winner of the BT Sport Action Woman of the Year Award will once again be decided by a public vote via the website: btsport.com/actionwoman2019 .

The winners will be announced at the BT Sport Action Woman of the Year Awards show, presented by Clare Balding and broadcast and open for anyone to watch (subscribers and non-subscribers), live on BT Sport 1, online and on Twitter from 7.30pm.

BT Sport Action Woman of the Year nominees:

Dina Asher-Smith – Athletics

It was another year to remember for last year’s Action Woman of the Year as the 23-year-old grabbed a gold (200m) and two silver (100m & 4x100m) medals from this year’s World Championships, sending British records tumbling in the process.

Pippa Funnell MBE – Horse Riding

Funnell’s return to winning ways after 14 years was a testament to the 50-year-old’s dedication and perseverance: winning the Burghley Horse Trials and a team silver at the European Championships.

Jade Jones MBE – Taekwondo

The two-time Olympic champion won the first World Taekwondo title of her career as she looks to become the first British woman to win three individual golds at three separate Olympics next year in Tokyo.

Lucy Bronze – Football

2019 saw Bronze cement herself as one of the best players in the world, with great success both domestically and internationally. The defender helped Lyon to a historic treble, lifted the She Believes Cup with the Lionesses, won the FIFA Women’s World Cup Silver Ball and became the first British player to be awarded the UEFA Women’s Player of the Year Award

Jamie Chadwick – Motorsport

The youngster made history this year as she lifted the inaugural W Series trophy, making great strides for British female participation in racing in the process

Dame Sarah Storey – Para-Cycling

The cycling legend took her World Championship gold medal tally to 35 following her victories in the road race and time trial at this year’s UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships.

Bryony Frost – Horse Racing

The 24-year-old made history in March when she became the first female jockey to win a Grade One race over fences at the Cheltenham Festival. Shortly afterwards she was crowned Champion Conditional jockey of the year.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson – Athletics

KJT ended her wait for a global outdoor title as she stormed to heptathlon gold at the World Championships, setting a personal best and a new British Record along the way.

The Team of the Year nominees:

• Solheim Cup team

• Arsenal Women Football Club

• England women’s national rugby union team

About BT

BT’s purpose is to use the power of communications to make a better world. It is one of the world’s leading providers of communications services and solutions, serving customers in 180 countries. Its principal activities include the provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and international telecommunications services to its customers for use at home, at work and on the move; broadband, TV and internet products and services; and converged fixed-mobile products and services. BT consists of four customer-facing units: Consumer, Enterprise, Global and Openreach.

For the year ended 31 March 2019, BT Group’s reported revenue was £23,428m with reported profit before taxation of £2,666m.

British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on the London stock exchange.

For more information, visit www.btplc.com