Newly-crowned World Champion Stuart Bingham was named snooker’s Player of the Year at the sport’s annual awards ceremony in London tonight.
Bingham conquered the Crucible for the first time by beating Shaun Murphy 18-15 in an epic final this week. He also won the Shanghai Masters world ranking event earlier this season, as well as the Haining Open and Championship League. The 38-year-old from Basildon finished the season with a career-high ranking of second in the world.
Bingham also won the Snooker Journalists Player of the Year category.
The Fans Player of the Year award, which included votes from fans on Twitter, Weibo and WeChat, went to Judd Trump, who won the Australian Goldfields Open and World Grand Prix and reached three other finals.
Teenager Oliver Lines won the Rookie of the Year award. The 19-year-old from Leeds enjoyed a promising debut season, highlighted by a run to the final of an Asian Tour event.
Performance of the Year went to Joe Perry for winning the first full ranking title of his 24-year pro career. The Cambridgeshire cueman beat Mark Williams in the final of the Players Championship in Thailand in March.
The Magic Moment of the Year was won by Ronnie O’Sullivan for his 776th career century break during the Masters, breaking the record of 775 set by Stephen Hendry.
Two former World Champions were inducted into snooker’s Hall of Fame: 1991 winner John Parrott and 2014 champion Mark Selby.
The awards ceremony at the Dorchester Hotel also helped raised money for Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice, which is World Snooker’s official charity – for more details see
www.bluebellwood.org
Full list of awards:
World Snooker Player of the Year: Stuart Bingham
Snooker Journalists Player of the Year: Stuart Bingham
Fans Player of the Year: Judd Trump
Rookie of the Year: Oliver Lines
Performance of the Year: Joe Perry
Magic Moment of the Year: Ronnie O’Sullivan
147 Club (players making a 147 during the season): Ronnie O’Sullivan, Marco Fu, Judd Trump, Aditya Mehta, Shaun Murphy, Ben Woollaston, Ryan Day, David Gilbert, Barry Hawkins
Hall of Fame inductees: John Parrott, Mark Selby