The vote for BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2023 is still open - but it won't be for much longer!

You can vote online here, by telephone or by scanning the QR code above.

In order to cast your vote online, you must sign into your BBC account. If you do not have an account, you will need to register before you can vote.

You can only vote once and must be in the UK to vote online. You have less than 10 minutes!

• Sports Personality of the Year 2023 terms and conditions
• Frequently asked questions

If you're calling from a mobile the number is 6 22 82 followed by the number of your favourite. From landlines call 09015 22 82 and add the number of your favourite.

The number to add for each contender are as follows:

• 01 - Stuart Broad
• 02 - Frankie Dettori
• 03 - Mary Earps
• 04 - Alfie Hewett
• 05 - Katarina Johnson-Thompson
• 06 - Rory McIlroy

Becky Grey
BBC Sport rugby union reporter

Image source, Getty Images

It has been another year of firsts in women’s rugby union.

In April, England sealed a Six Nations Grand Slam against France in front of the biggest crowd in the history of the women’s game - 58,498 - in their first standalone Test at Twickenham.

Later in the year, new global tournament WXV was launched and the Red Roses led the charge on that one too, becoming the inaugural champions in New Zealand.

There was home nations’ success elsewhere too, with Scotland winning the tournament’s second tier WXV2 and Ireland topping the table in WXV 3.

Jade O'Malley: Fatima Whitbread is a National Treasure

Mike Henson
BBC Sport rugby union reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Where were you on the weekend of the 14 and 15 October? In the rugby world, on the men’s side at least, there was only one place to be; parked on your backside watching four block-busting jaw-dropping Rugby World Cup quarter-finals play out back to back.

The loss of France and Ireland at that last-eight stage robbed the tournament of some home nation momentum and a compelling storyline, but overall, with some big upsets, tight matches and a stirring final won by South Africa against New Zealand, it was a fine edition of the event.

Saracens completed their clamber back to the top of the English game with a Premiership final win over Sale in May, but just a couple of weeks later, London Irish became the third top-flight club of the season to go into administration underlining the narrow margins on and off the field. For the second year in a row, Ronan O’Gara revelled in his La Rochelle side’s narrow win over old rivals Leinster in the Champions Cup, while his former playing side - Munster - trumped defending champions the Stormers in the URC final.

Of the most lasting significance though could be the ongoing legal action against the sport and its authorities by some of its biggest names. Former Wales and British and Irish Lions playmaker GavinHenson, along with 2003 Rugby World Cup winners Phil Vickery and Mark Regan, were new names revealed to be part of the action in December. In total 295 players are suing the game they loved and worked in.

Image source, Getty Images

Fatima Whitbread spent the first 14 years of her life in children's homes after being abandoned as a baby.

She had a dream to be the best javelin thrower in the world and, after being fostered, she went on to break the javelin world record and win world and European Championship gold.

Whitbread campaigns to improve the care system and ensure children in care are "seen, heard and valued".

Former javelin world champion Fatima Whitbread has been honoured with this year's Helen Rollason Award!

The next award to be presented this evening is the Helen Rollason Award.

It was introduced to the show in 1999 in memory of the BBC Sport journalist and presenter, who died of cancer that year at the age of 43.

This award recognises outstanding achievement in the face of adversity.

BBC One

Sports Personality of the Year 2023's Unsung Hero winner Des Smith speaking on BBC One:

"Thank you very much for this, it's really a surprise. It's been many surprises, I didn't even know I was nominated until I got a phone call to say 'Des we'd like to do some filming at the club can you get some people down there and we'd like to film some cricket, football, hockey' and I said OK.

"The hockey manager said well if it snows then we can't play any hockey and what happened? It snowed. We all turned up and it was a great day. All the young kids turned up and practised and played a game of snowball and we had a lot to eat which is typical of Caribbean people.

"The club I'm involved in started around 1965 and it started because of the difficulties like myself had in trying to find - we loved football and cricket - but it wasn't easy in those days to work your way in and get involved in local cricket teams which were run mostly by white people.

"We had to set up our own teams and I'm still involved in the club and there's people in their 80s still involved and doing excellent work. We have about 11 football teams, three senior cricket teams, two senior football teams, a hockey team and we also do the holiday activities in half term and we have fun days, we have programmes to encourage more kids from Afro-Caribbean backgrounds.

"Our next target is to build a pavilion, it's falling apart, so if any sponsors want to come in that would be great!"

Coral Barry
BBC Sport combat sports reporter

Image source, Getty Images

This year in boxing has all been defined by three things really – domestic matches, heavyweights and Chantelle Cameron (and Katie Taylor). The Northampton fighter has been at the centre of the best rivalry of the year between her and Ireland’s Katie Taylor. Two epic fights, with Cameron narrowly losing the second encounter, leave the rivalry tied at 1-1 after two fights.

Even in defeat, Cameron should be considered for fighter of the year after firmly announcing herself as one of the best in the world. Female fighters have again produced the goods this year, with Savannah Marshall winning an undisputed championship, Natasha Jonas becoming a two-weight world champion and Ellie Scotney and Sandy Ryan both winning world titles to bring the total of British female world champions to five.

We saw brilliant domestic contests between Liam Smith and Chris Eubank Jr, Leigh Wood and Josh Warrington and Lawrence Okolie and Chris Billam-Smith. As always, however, the heavyweights have dominated the headlines. Anthony Joshua has undergone a successful if sometimes underwhelming rebuild, Tyson Fury has remained unbeaten by the skin of his teeth against boxing novice Francis Ngannou and Daniel Dubois came within a few inches of the biggest upset of the year against Oleksandr Usyk in Poland.

Boxing is so often about the fights that have got away – see Joshua v Fury for more info – but with the introduction of Saudi Arabian money we will for the first time on 23 December see all the promoters work together. The Kingdom has set their sights on boxing and fears about sportwashing and extreme human rights violations hasn’t stopped any of boxing powerbrokers from teaming up with them. 2024 has given hope we may see all the contests we really crave in the new year including Joshua v Deontay Wilder and Fury v Usyk. But as always, we’ll believe it when we see it.

A reminder that the vote for BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2023 is open.

You can vote online here, by telephone or by scanning the QR code above.

In order to cast your vote online, you must sign into your BBC account. If you do not have an account, you will need to register before you can vote.

You can only vote once and must be in the UK to vote online.

• Sports Personality of the Year 2023 terms and conditions
• Frequently asked questions

If you're calling from a mobile the number is 6 22 82 followed by the number of your favourite. From landlines call 09015 22 82 and add the number of your favourite.

The number to add for each contender are as follows:

• 01 - Stuart Broad
• 02 - Frankie Dettori
• 03 - Mary Earps
• 04 - Alfie Hewett
• 05 - Katarina Johnson-Thompson
• 06 - Rory McIlroy

Harry Poole
BBC Sport athletics reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Not only was Lucy Charles-Barclay crowned Ironman world Champion for the first time, but she achieved that feat by setting a new course record in Hawaii.

Runner-up on four occasions, the 30-year-old – only the third Briton to win the Ironman World Championship -.became the first woman to lead the event from start to finish as she crossed the finish line in a time of eight hours 24 minutes 31 seconds.

Meanwhile, Great Britain's Beth Potter was crowned world champion following her victory at the World Triathlon Championship Series finals in Spain – an achievement which secured her place at next year's Olympics Games in Paris.

But it wasn’t to be for team-mateAlex Yee – who like Potter won the Paris 2024 triathlon test event in August – as a disappointing final race saw him finish fifth overall as France's Dorian Coninx triumphed.

Steve Sutcliffe
BBC Sport snooker reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Mark Allen collected the WST, Snooker Journalists’ and Fans Player of the Year awards earlier in 2023 for winning three tournaments last term.

Meanwhile, Judd Trump, who has excelled in the early part of this season, superbly triumphed in the Masters, while Luca Brecel became the first player from mainland Europe to win the World Championship in a landmark moment for the game in May.

But as 2023 comes to an end a certain Ronnie O’Sullivan has been grabbing all the headlines.

His record-extending eighth UK Championship in November came amid friction with the game’s authorities and means life is never dull with the 48-year-old around.

BBC One

In the absence of Sports Personality of the Year 2023 nominee Rory McIlroy, his Ryder Cup team-mate Tommy Fleetwood has been speaking on BBC One:

"Rory is amazing. I still feel like he’s the best player of our generation. I was so lucky to play with him. He sees shots we don’t see and try’s crazy things that he then pulls off.

"It’s an amazing opportunity to play with him and at the Ryder Cup he showed what a leader he is."

Volunteer Des Smith is the recipient of the BBC Sports Personality Unsung Hero award for 2023!

Having helped found the Sheffield Caribbean Sports Club in 1986, Smith has made it his life's mission to support and raise up the people within his community.

The club is a safe haven for young people, offering five cricket teams and eight junior football sides as well as netball and hockey teams.

It also delivers the ACE programme which supports the development of cricketers from black communities.

Congratulations, Des!

Who will be the recipient of this year's Unsung Hero award?

This is the award that celebrates the best volunteers in sport, whose work is making a real difference in communities across the UK every day.

And, selected from fifteen national and regional winners, the winner is...

BBC One

Sports Personality of the Year contender Mary Earps speaking to BBC One: on what it means to hear praise from her team-mates and Lionesses coach Sarina Wiegman: "I was almost a bit emotional. We don't often talk like that. Football is a bit of a brutal game so it's nice to hear those things."

On how she reflects on the last few years: "I'm going to try this Christmas to reflect on it all. It's been an incredible couple of years so I feel grateful to be given the opportunity to fulfil my wildest dreams. I can't believe I'm standing up here and I did that walk in this dress and these heels."

On getting used to people knowing her name: "It's a lot different to what I knew growing up . Goalkeeping is a mas passion if mine and trying to rep a whole group of people and trying to show goalkeeping is cool, and we can be on the front of things and it's not all about the strikers."

On representing goalkeepers: "It's so impotatant, What I have learned over last couple of years is you have to show lots or resilience. Its not easy, we all go through hard times whatever walk of life you are in. Football is a vehicle and we can all change the world in some way. That's what I'm trying to do."

You can vote online here, by telephone or by scanning a QR code which will take you directly to the vote page.

The QR code will appear on your screen with all other voting information, while you can also find it on the graphic above. You can use your mobile, tablet or computer to access the QR code.

In order to cast your vote online, you must sign into your BBC account. If you do not have an account, you will need to register before you can vote.

You can only vote once and must be in the UK to vote online.

• Sports Personality of the Year 2023 terms and conditions
• Frequently asked questions

If you're calling from a mobile the number is 6 22 82 followed by the number of your favourite. From landlines call 09015 22 82 and add the number of your favourite.

The number to add for each contender are as follows:

• 01 - Stuart Broad
• 02 - Frankie Dettori
• 03 - Mary Earps
• 04 - Alfie Hewett
• 05 - Katarina Johnson-Thompson
• 06 - Rory McIlroy

We've now revisited the achievements of all six contenders for tonight's award.

You know what that means.

Voting for BBC Sports Personality of the Year is now OPEN!

You have less than 30 minutes to have your say.

Here are all the details you need...

After a chastening experience at the 2021 Ryder Cup, in which he was left in tears after Europe lost by a record margin to the United States, Rory McIlroy gained revenge at this year's tournament.

A talismanic performance led to him finishing as the top points scorer on either side with four out of five matches won, and Europe's victory gave the Northern Irishman his fifth Ryder Cup triumph.

On the PGA Tour, he posted a remarkable 13 top-10 finishes in 18 events, including at three of the four majors, and won the Scottish Open.

He also retained the Race to Dubai title for the fifth time and spent part of the year ranked as the world number one.