World Snooker Awards 2011 - Top Honors for Higgins

World Snooker hosted it's inaugural awards ceremony at the Dorchester Hotel, London today in support of the killing cancer charity. Many awards were given out on the night but the big one; the World Snooker player of the year went to the UK, Welsh and World Champion; John Higgins!

Unfortunately I was not invited (this year!) so couldn't get any pictures from the event, but it looked to be an amazing occasion and there were many awards given out to some well deserved players this year. Again a big well done to Barry Hearn for raising Snooker out of the doldrums and having it so that we even have an award ceremony!

The Awards:

Fan's Player of the Year - Judd Trump

Could see this coming! The amount of support and fans Judd Trump has gained with his China Open win and his World Championship final is huge and as the only award voted by the general public it must mean a lot to Judd and they will be hoping he has another great season starting next month at the first PTC events!

Journalist's Player of the Year - John Higgins

This award was voted for by the people that bring the Snooker to our newspapers, radio, websites etc, the Snooker journalists! They picked John Higgins as their player of the year, could see why they chose John because as journalists they know a lot more about the circumstances John was banned last year and also they probably hate the News of the World!

Players Player of the Year - Mark Williams

Winning this award must mean a lot to Mark as it is voted on by his fellow players. The players that he repeatedly beat all season long! It is easy to see why they chose Mark, after dropping out of the top 32 a few seasons back and then reaching the world no.1 spot for the start of this season is like day and night and those players will be looking to him for inspiration when their situations worsen. Also winning that German Masters title in front of those thousands of German fans is not easy task!

Rookie of the Year - Jack Lisowski

Jack probably had no idea that his first season on the main tour would of gone so well! After losing his first 5 matches in a row, he went on to reach the final of PTC3, qualifying for the last 32 of the German Masters and running eventual champion John Higgins to a 4-3 scoreline at the Welsh Open! Things can only get better for the youngster, and practicing and living with Judd Trump can only help matters too.

Performance of the Year - Judd Trump

Another award for Haircut 100! This time the performance of the year. It is not specified whether it was for his run to the Betfred.com World Championship final beating ex-world champions Neil Robertson or Graeme Dott on route or his China Open victory over Mark Selby, or a combination of both! Whatever reasons though, it is well deserved, well done Judders!

Magic Moment of the Year -  Rory Mcleod

Not a category that people would of thought of, but a good one I must say! Rory McLeod won this award for his spectacular 3-cushion final black ball pot at the World Snooker Shoot Out against Tony Drago. Probably would of picked John Higgins' doubled brown ball to win him the UK Championship title against Mark Williams but still a great moment for Rory.

And now for the big award, the one everyone wants, the World Snooker Player of the Year Award!

World Snooker Player of the Year - John Higgins

No surprises here! Straight away after returning from his ban from failing to report approaches of match fixing, he impressed straight away by winning EPTC5 in Hamm, Germany. He nearly won the next but lost narrowly to lower ranked pro Michael Holt in the final of EPTC6. After then though in ranking events he was untouchable as he only lost one ranking event match (China Open) on the run up to his world championship victory and took the UK Championship and Welsh Open titles on the way. Capturing his 4th world title only puts him behind Ray Reardon (6), Steve Davis (6) and Stephen Hendry (7) in the list of all-time Crucible greats and whos to say that he wont win it at least one more time?

And a special mention goes to Steve Davis who was inducted in to the World Snooker Hall of Fame today at the awards ceremony. Another achievement for an amazing player. He is the best ambassador any sport could wish for. All he does for the sport, on and off the table is incredible and I hope the Nugget continues to be interesting for years to come!