[updated]
KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Four newspapers captured “Grand Slam” honors in the annual Associated Press Sports Editors’ writing and sections contest that ended Wednesday.
The New York Times and Boston Globe, competing in the over-175,000 circulation division, earned top 10 recognition for their daily, Sunday and special sections to augment a top 10 website award previously announced in Class A website division (over 2 million monthly unique visitors). The Oklahoman of Oklahoma City, Okla., swept top-10 section awards in the 75,001-175,000 circulation division as well as top-10 in the Class A website division. Joining them was the Omaha (Neb.) World Herald in the 75,001-175,000 class for print and the Class B website division (500,000 to 1.9 million monthly unique visitors).
The APSE awards, voted on by sports editors from across the nation during four days of judging, honor work published in 2011.
Fifteen newspapers won Triple Crowns, signifying top 10 honors in three of the four section/website categories. Those include:
Class A (over 175,000 circulation): The Denver Post, Kansas City Star, The Star Tribune (Minneapolis).
Class B (75,001-175,000): Buffalo News, Des Moines Register, Indianapolis Star, Salt Lake Tribune.
Class C (30,000-75,000): The Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star, The National (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emerites).
Class D (under 30,000): Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News, Wyoming Tribune-Eagle (Cheyenne, Wyo.), Yakima (Wash.) Herald-Republic.
Class E: (under 15,000): Denton (Texas) Record-Chronicle, Opelika-Auburn (Ala.) News, Southeast Missourian (Cape Girardeau, Mo.)
The New York Times, Washington Post and Yahoo! Sports led all news organizations with eight writing awards apiece. The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News had seven writing awards. The Columbus Dispatch had six, and five organizations – the Boston Globe, The Denver Post, the Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif., the Tulsa (Okla.) World and the Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record — had five apiece.
APSE introduced a new beat writing category in the 2011 contest, honoring a portfolio of work that included game stories, features, breaking news and enterprise or project reporting.
The top five finalists in the writing categories will be announced on the APSE website in April. Winners will receive their awards in June at the APSE summer convention in Chicago.
