WPBSA Annual Awards

The WPBSA Annual Awards is an awards ceremony hosted by snookers governing body, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), at the end of each scheduled season. The ceremony was created in 1982, due to rising interests in snooker and consisted of WPBSA Player of the Year and WPBSA Young Player of the Year.

The awards ceremony currently consists of six awards: WPBSA Player of the Year; WPBSA Young Player of the Year; WPBSA Best Moment of the Year; WPBSA Best Match of the Year; WPBSA Referee of the Year and WPBSA Sponsor of the Year. The ceremony consisted of just two awards from 1982 to 2003, when it adopted the Referee of the Year award. In 2006, it adopted the Best Match of the Year, and in 2009, the Best Moment of the Year. The Sponsor of the Year will be inaugurated for the 2015 WPBSA Annual Awards, being added to the list by WPBSA President Gary Wilkinson in 2014.

WPBSA Player of the Year
The WPBSA Player of the Year has been frequently associated with the World Champion, but the World Champion does not always win the award. For example, Steve Davis was winner of the first award in May 1982, but Alex Higgins was the current World Champion. Davis was deemed to have performed better than Higgins throughout the season, which is why Davis was given the award. Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan jointly hold the record for the most wins (8), with Steve Davis second (7).