The World Snooker Tour makes annual awards in several categories, including player of the year, and established a Hall of Fame in 2011.
The Association of Snooker Writers, a grouping of journalists who wrote about snooker, was founded in 1981. In 1983, they instituted awards for players and others associated with the game, and made another set of awards in 1984. From 1985, the awards were taken over by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. In 1998, the journalists' group was reformed as the Snooker Writers' Association, and the awards were in that body's name for several years.[1] The awards are now administered by the World Snooker Tour.
| Awarding body | Year | Player of the Year | Young Player of the Year | Other awards | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Association of Snooker Writers | 1983 | no award | ||||
| 1984 | no award | Personality of the Year: Dennis Taylor | ||||
| WPBSA | 1985 | |||||
| 1986 | [2] | |||||
| 1987 | [3] [4] | |||||
| 1988 | [5] [6] | |||||
| 1989 | Match of the year: John Parrott v Steve James (1989 World Snooker Championship); Billiards player of the year: Mike Russell | [7] [8] | ||||
| 1990 | [9] | |||||
| 1991 | [10] | |||||
| 1992 | [11] | |||||
| 1993 | [12] | |||||
| 1994 | [13] | |||||
| 1995 | [14] | |||||
| 1996 | [15] | |||||
| 1997 | [16] | |||||
| Snooker Writers' Association | 1998 | Match of the Year: Mark Williams v Stephen Hendry (1998 Masters) | [17] | |||
| 1999 | Stephen Hendry | [18] | ||||
| 2000 | ||||||
| 2001 | ||||||
| 2002 | [19] | |||||
| WPBSA | 2003 | |||||
| 2004 | [20] | |||||
| 2005 | ||||||
| 2006 | ||||||
| 2007 | ||||||
| 2008 | ||||||
| 2009 | ||||||
| 2010: no awards | ||||||
| World Snooker | 2011 | [21] | ||||
| 2012 | [22] | |||||
| 2013 | [23] [24] | |||||
| 2014 | Fans' Player of the Year: Ronnie O'Sullivan; Snooker Writers' Player of the Year: Ding Junhui; Performance of the Year: Mark Selby; Magic Moment: Mark Selby | [25] [26] | ||||
| 2015 | [27] | |||||
| 2016 | [28] [29] | |||||
| 2017 | Yan Bingtao | [30] [31] | ||||
| 2018 | [32] | |||||
| 2019 | [33] | |||||
| 2020 | [34] | |||||
| 2021 | [35] | |||||
| 2022 | Wu Yize | [36] | ||||
| 2023 | Fan's player of the year: Mark Allen; Snooker Journalists' Player of the Year: Mark Allen; Performance of the year: Luca Brecel (2023 World Snooker Championship final); Magic Moment of the Year: Mark Selby (Maximum break at the 2023 World Snooker Championship); Breakthrough of the year: Si Jiahui | [37] | ||||
| 2024 | Fan's player of the year: Ronnie O'Sullivan; Snooker Journalists' Player of the Year: Ronnie O'Sullivan; Performance of the year: Kyren Wilson (2024 World Snooker Championship); Magic Moment of the Year: Shaun Murphy (Maximum break at the 2023 (Dec) Shoot Out); Breakthrough of the year: Zhang Anda (2023 International Championship) | [38] | ||||
| Year | Awardee | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | |||
| 1984 | Clive Everton | ||
| 1985 | Del Simmonds | ||
| 1986 | |||
| 1987 | |||
| 1988 | Howard Kruger | ||
| 1990 | |||
| 1994 | |||
| 1996 | Rick Waumsley | ||
| 1998 | Jonathan Martin | ||
| 1999 | Jim Elkins | ||
| 2000 | David Vine | ||
| 2001 |
| Year | Awardee | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Reaching the World Snooker Championship final in two consecutive years | ||
| 1988 | Performance at the 1988 World Snooker Championship | ||
| 1995 | Seven century breaks in the 1995 World Snooker Championship final | ||
| 1996 | Nigel Bond | Winning British Open final after needing a snooker | |
| 1997 | Winning the 1997 World Snooker Championship | ||
| 1998 | Recovering from 0–6 to win Masters final on re-spotted black | ||
| 1999 | Winning a seventh World Snooker Championship | ||
| 2000 | Reaching the 2000 World Snooker Championship semi-finals | ||
| 2001 | Winning the 2001 Masters final from 3–7 behind | ||
| 2002 | Winning the 2002 World Snooker Championship | ||
| 2003 | Winning the 2003 World Snooker Championship semi-final against Paul Hunter | ||
| 2004 | First ranking title for eleven years | ||
| 2005 | Winning the 2005 World Snooker Championship | ||
| 2006 | Winning the 2006 World Snooker Championship | ||
| 2007 | Reaching the 2007 Welsh Open final | ||
| 2008 | Winning the Masters at his first attempt |
| Year | Awardee | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Mike Green | Retiring secretary of the WPBSA | |
| 1987 | 40 years as a professional player | ||
| 1988 | Playing professionally at the age of 75 | ||
| 1989 | Nick Hunter | BBC snooker producer | |
| 1995 | Winner of three ranking titles in a season | ||
| 1996 | BBC commentator | ||
| 1997 | |||
| 1998 | Defeat of Stephen Hendry at the 1998 World Snooker Championship | ||
| 2000 | 20 years as a top-16 ranked player | ||
| 2001 | Snooker journalist | ||
| 2004 | Peter Dyke | Promoter | |
| 2005 | Professional player, administrator and commentator | ||
| 2006 | Richard Balani | Promoter of snooker events in Malta | |
| 2007 | Journalist and commentator | ||
| 2008 | 30 years as a tournament promoter and manager of snooker players |
The World Snooker hall of fame was instituted in 2011, with eight winners of multiple world snooker championships as the initial inductees.[39]
| Year | Awardee(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | |||
| 2012 | |||
| 2013 | |||
| 2014 | |||
| 2015 | |||
| 2016 | Stuart Bingham, Rex Williams and Sindhu Pulsirivong | ||
| 2017 | |||
| 2018 | |||
| 2021 | Judd Trump and Brandon Parker | ||
| 2022 | |||
| 2023 | |||
| 2024 | Luca Brecel and Daniel Blann |
Sources