Sanderson is an honorary graduate of the University of Wolverhampton and was made an Honorary Fellow of London South Bank University in 2004. In 2004, Sanderson was voted one of 100 Great Black Britons in a poll established after the BBC's "100 Greatest Britons" failed to include any black Britons. Later in the same year she was presented with a Sportswomen of the Year Lifetime Achievement award by "The Sunday Times". In Wednesfield there is a housing estate located near where she started learning the javelin throw, Sanderson Park, named after her. There is also a road named after her in Wandsworth Road, South London, Tessa Sanderson Place.