The 87th BWAA AWARDS DINNER

Wednesday, June 6

@ Copacabana

       268 West 47th Street

New York, NY

cocktails 6:00 p.m.

    Dinner and Awards 7:30

Full invitation available here.
To purchase tickets, tables, or ads in the souvenir program, please download the reply card.

DELVIN RODRIGUEZ –
PAWEL WOLAK
Ali – Frazier Award
Fight of the Year

VIRGIL HUNTER
Eddie Futch Award
Trainer of the Year

DEWEY BOZELLA
Bill Crawford Award
Courage in Overcoming Adversity

DON ELBAUM
John F. X. Condon Award
Long and Meritorious Service

AL BERNSTEIN
Marvin Kohn “Good Guy” Award

GEORGE PLIMPTON (posthumous)
A.J. Liebling Award
Outstanding Boxing Writing

COLIN HART
Nat Fleischer Award
Excellence in Boxing Writing

BERNARD HOPKINS
Special Recognition
Oldest Fighter to Win a World Championship

Andre Ward is BWAA Fighter of the Year

Wolak – Rodriguez I Named Top Fight

Virgil Hunter, Al Bernstein, Elbaum & Bozella also to be honored

Andre Ward has won an Olympic gold medal, professional world titles, and Showtime’s Super Six super-middleweight tournament. Now the Boxing Writers Association of America has named Ward its Fighter of the Year for 2011, bestowing its Sugar Ray Robinson Fighter of the Year award. Ward was chosen over nominees Nonito Donaire, Wladimir Klitschko, Floyd Mayweather, and Manny Pacquiao.

For all winners, see our Boxing Awards page.

Klitschko Brothers, Bernard Hopkins to be Honored at BWAA Dinner

Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko have been chosen to receive the BWAA’s James A. Farley Award for “Honesty and Integrity in Boxing.” Vitali and Wladimir are known not only for their ring achievements butalso for their civic and charitable activities. For more than 15 years they have been using their popularity to raise money and promote health for children in Ukraine andaround the globe. Vitali will attend the 87th annual BWAA Awards Dinner to be held June 6 at the Copacabana in New York City. Bernard Hopkins will be presented with a special recognition of his 2011 feat of becoing the oldest boxer to win a major world title.

BWAA Co-Sponsors Bill Gallo Bust

The Boxing Writers Association of America, along with the Veteran Boxers Association of New York/Ring 8 and the Dr. Theodore Atlas Foundation, co-sponsored the creation of a bust of Bill Gallo, the late New York Daily News cartoonist and writer. Gallo was a longtime BWAA member and 1999 Liebling Award winner. The bronze bust, created by sculptor Carl LeVotch (far right, with New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and BWAA President Jack Hirsch), will be displayed permanently at Gallagher’s Steakhouse in Manhattan, a Gallo favorite.

BARNEYS WRITING AND PHOTO AWARDS

In perhaps the most diverse voting results to date, judges for the 11th annual Boxing Writers Association of America writing contest, known as the “Barneys” in honor of the late BWAA president Barney Nagler, have tabbed different first-place winners in each of the six categories. Taking top Barneys honors are Michael Rosenthal, of RINGTV.com, for Event Coverage; Bernard Fernandez, of the Philadelphia Daily News, for Column; Lee Groves, of RINGTV.com, for News Story; Tom Gerbasi, of Boxingscene.com, for Feature Under 1,750 words; Ron Borges, of Boxing Monthly, for Feature Over 1,750 Words, and Springs Toledo, of Thesweetscience.com, for Investigative Reporting. Judging was done on a blind basis, with all entries submitted without bylines or other identifying marks.

In photography, Naoki Fukuda of RINGTV.com took first place in Action and second in Feature photography. Will Hart of HBO had the first-place Feature photo. Chris Cozzone placed second in Action (the above photo showing Mike Lee versus Pablo Gomez) and third in Feature. Tom Casino of Showtime placed third in the Action category.

Full contest results and links to the winning articles are here. All winners will be recognized at the 87th annual BWAA Awards Dinner to be held June 6 at the Copacabana in New York City.

George Plimpton Named Liebling Award Winner

Colin Hart Wins Fleischer

George Plimpton, the elegant literary adventurer who graced boxing with witty, insightful prose and once had his nose broken in the line of duty, will receive this year’s A.J. Liebling Award. The Boxing Writers Association of America presents the award in memory of Liebling, the legendary New Yorker wordsmith who called his favorite sport “The Sweet Science.”