NEWS
Book Award renamed for Dr. Tony Ryan
Posted: Tuesday, September 09, 2008 4:43 PM
Castleton Lyons, and Thoroughbred Times announced that their annual $10,000 Book Award has been renamed the Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award in honor of the late founder of Castleton Lyons and inspiration for inauguration of the award. One of the richest book awards in the world, the Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award honors the best books published about Thoroughbred racing.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD 2008 NOMINATION FORM.
“My father loved literature and was a great supporter of the arts, and he loved racing” said Shane Ryan, owner of Castleton Lyons, a leading Thoroughbred breeding farm based in Lexington. “He was passionate about promoting racing and books. This is a great way to honor his memory.”
The Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award winner of 2008, to be presented in April 2009, will be the third annual award. It was previously named the Castleton Lyons-Thoroughbred Times Book Award. Dr. Ryan, founder of Ireland-based Ryanair, died in October 2007.
“This is a tribute to Dr. Ryan’s vision,” said Mark Simon, president of the Lexington-based publication company Thoroughbred Times. “Dr. Ryan wanted to do something to promote racing, to inspire people to write about the sport he loved, and he created the concept of this award. We are proud to carry on this tradition with his name now on it.”
The 2007 Book Award winner was T. D. Thornton, for Not By A Long Shot: A Season at a Hard-Luck Horse Track, in which Thornton chronicled the daily struggles of horsemen who eked out a living at the once-proud East Boston track. Runners-up were Bill Nack for Ruffian: A Racetrack Romance, and Rachel Pagones for Dubai Millennium: A Vision Realised, A Dream Lost.
In 2006, the inaugural Book Award winner was Joe Drape for Black Maestro, which chronicled the life of Jimmy Winkfield, the last African-American jockey to win the Kentucky Derby.
The deadline for submissions for the 2008 Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award, presented by Castleton Lyons and Thoroughbred Times, is December 31. The semi-finalists will be announced in March 2009. The winner will be announced at a reception at Castleton Lyons in Lexington in April 2009.
Nominees for the Book Award can be in any category: fiction, non-fiction, handicapping, training, children’s, health care, photography, etc., as long as it pertains to an aspect dealing with Thoroughbreds. Judges selected by Thoroughbred Times will critique books on content, plus design, layout, and artwork, when relevant, to select the 2008 winner.
To submit nominees to the Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award, authors or publishing companies should send seven copies of the book, along with the nomination form (available on the Thoroughbred Times website by clicking here) to: Book Award, Thoroughbred Times, 2008 Mercer Rd, Lexington, KY 40511. Entries must be received by December 31, 2008.
