<Tr> <Th> First awarded </Th> <Td> December 30, 1954; 63 years ago (1954 - 12 - 30) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Website </Th> <Td> www.bbc.co.uk/sport/sports-personality </Td> </Tr> <P> The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award is the main award of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony, which takes place each December . The winner is the sportsperson, judged by a public vote, to have achieved the most that year . The recipient must either be British or reside and play a significant amount of their sport in the United Kingdom . The winner is selected by a public - vote from a pre-determined shortlist . The most recent award winner is athlete Sir Mo Farah, who won in 2017 . </P> <P> Sports Personality of the Year was created by Paul Fox, who thought of the idea while he was editor of the magazine show Sportsview . The first award ceremony took place in 1954 as part of Sportsview, and was presented by Peter Dimmock . For the first show, votes were sent by postcard, and rules presented in a Radio Times article stipulated that nominations were restricted to athletes who had featured on the Sportsview programme since April . Approximately 14,500 votes were cast, and Christopher Chataway beat Roger Bannister to win the inaugural BBC Sportsview's Personality of the Year Award . </P>

Who won sports personality of the year last night