Congratulations to all prize winners, and thanks to everyone who took part in 2019. There'll be plenty more fun and games ahead in 2020 so come and sign up using the BEST 2020 entry form and tell your friends, too!
Here's a full list of winners from the 2019 event.
Main Event
| BEST CHAMPION | Brett Smitheram | £240 + Winner's Trophy | London East Regional Winner |
| BEST RUNNER-UP | Wayne Kelly | £120 | North West Regional Winner |
| BEST SEMI-FINALIST | Paul Allan | £90 | London West Winner |
| BEST SEMI-FINALIST | Colin Northmore | £90 | North East Regional Winner |
| BEST QUARTER-FINALIST | Ed Rossiter | £60 | South West Regional Winner |
| BEST QUARTER-FINALIST | Paul Gallen | £60 | Ireland Regional Winner |
| BEST QUARTER-FINALIST | Natalie Zolty | £60 | Midlands Regional Winner |
| BEST QUARTER-FINALIST | Simon Gillam | £60 | Scotland Regional Winner |
Each of the top 8 also received their own customised Regional Winner's Trophy.
Second BEST
| London East Winner | Philip Kelly | £40 |
| North West Winner | Robert Richland | £40 |
| London West Winner | Paul Steadman | £40 |
| North East Winner | Angela Margaret Brodie | £40 |
| South West Winner | Bob Lynn | £40 |
| Midlands Winner | Stewart Houten | £40 |
| Scotland Winner | James Squires | £40 |
Each Second BEST winner also received their own customised winner's keepsake. The Second BEST final did not take place in Ireland by mutual consent of both players. The prize money that would have been awarded for this has been rolled over into the BEST 2020 prize fund.
Ratings Prizes
4 ratings prizes were awarded for the highest one-off performances above rating. These prizes were open to anyone, at all levels even if they had already won a main prize.
| Joseph Bennett | +71 | £40 | |
| Rachel Bingham | +58 | £40 | |
| Paul Steadman | +58 | £40 | |
| Amy Byrne | +54 | £40 |
Special & Spot Prizes
Thanks to Mattel and ABSP President Gyles Brandreth for sponsoring/donating prizes for BEST 2019. As a result, we spent very little on these added extras and could even have a couple more winners than anticipated. Where possible we chose or allocated these prizes with the recipients in mind.
Special Ratings Prize: Angela Margaret Brodie
Given the number of entrants exceeded the 64 budgeted for, we decided to award a special ratings prize for average performance above rating across the whole of BEST 2019. It was closely contested and ultimately won with a phenomenal average performance above rating across 34 games of +22.5. Angie wins a cash prize and a copy of the latest book by Gyles Brandreth, "Dancing By The Light Of The Moon". The book is a collection of poems which he encourages to be learnt by heart to aid memory techniques and also includes a few of his stories and anecdotes. Please be aware that now we know how to work them out, all ratings prizes for 2020 will be awarded using this method and based on average performance above rating across the whole event.
Most Interesting Match Venue: Temu Oluku & Barry French (Library of Birmingham)
It's fair to say there was not the greatest competition for this prize and we are unlikely to repeat it in the future. However, the winners are still worthy ones. Temu and Barry played their match at the Library of Birmingham. As such it provided the biggest showcase opportunity for Scrabble and given they had their own word wars, both Barry and Temu will receive "Word Wars" DVD which follows 4 Scrabble fanatics on the International Scrabble scene.
BEST Sportsmanship: Alan Abela
Alan lost out in an epic 9 game battle where he had been the favourite going in and led most of the way. The match ran late into the night, and yielded something of an upset when Bobbie Penn ran out the winner. Bobbie nominated Alan for this prize because she said he remained kind, upbeat, positive and encouraging despite the ultimate result. Alan wins a copy of Mattel Balderdash, a board game about crazy and creative definitions.
High Game Score: Paul Gallen
We had 5 scores of 600 or higher, but the biggest was a 653 by Paul Gallen. Paul also wins a copy of Mattel Balderdash.
High Word Score: Brett Smitheram (Consolation Prize Robert Richland)
Until the final weekend, this looked like going to Robert Richland who managed not one, but two different nine-timers with the same score. However, Brett managed to go 27 points better with his play of SKEWBALD on day 1 of the final. Brett also wins of copy of Mattel Balderdash, but we awarded Robert a "Keep Calm & Love Scrabble" mug in consolation for leading for such a long time.
"BEST" Word Prize: Gary Oliver (Consolation Prize Judith Moore)
We know this was a tricky task as all submissions had to include the letters BEST together and in that order. Gary Oliver rose to the challenge with a superb 82 point play of BESTIAL. Gary wins a special Scrabble mug for being such a "Clever Dick". For embracing the difficult theme, we also awarded a prize to Judith Moore of a pair of Collins Little Scrabble Books by Barry Grossman and Mark Nyman to help her with her ongoing progress up the ratings.