NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Sports Writers Association announced the winners for its annual writing contest on Monday. Special thanks to Ron Higgins for coordinating and judging the contest again this year.
TSWA 2023 WRITING CONTEST RESULTS
DIVISION 1 and 2
(Combined because only one Division 2 writer entered)
GARY LUNDY WRITER OF THE YEAR – 1. Tim Buckley, Daily Memphian: Nostalgia stories usually don’t win writing contests … unless they provide perspective or give an important sense of history or are just downright entertaining. This category winner went 3-for-3 – perspective provided in a column of Memphis’ dubious list ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ pro football franchises, an important sense of history permeating in a story of Memphis State’s 1973 Final Four basketball team healing the city’s racial divide and an entertaining remembrance of former MSU play-by-play announcer Jack Eaton. 2. Adam Sparks, Knoxville News-Sentinel 3. Parth Upadhyaya, Daily Memphian
BEST COLUMNIST – 1. John Adams, Knoxville News-Sentinel: The winner’s collection of columns drew varied emotions. His analytic column on the underachieving Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team made you question. His column on a long-time local radio sports caller with a speech impediment who suddenly died put a lump in your throat. His column eviscerating Tennessee’s clownish mishandling of its NCAA football investigation made you want to stand up and applaud. 2. Dave Hooker, Off The Hook Sports.com 3. Tim Buckley, Daily Memphian
BEST FEATURE WRITER – 1. Drew Hill, Daily Memphian: The winner was the only writer in this category whose stories came from various subjects and were delivered at a good pace and with smooth transitions that moved his long pieces along. His story of Derrick Rose’s interest in Elliot Perry’s art collection was by far the best individual story among all the feature entries. 2. Phil Stukenborg, Daily Memphian. 3. Teresa M. Walker, The Associated Press
BEST EVENT WRITER – 1. Parth Upadhyaya, Daily Memphian: The category winner wrote insightful, analytical event stories. 2. Teresa M. Walker, Associated Press 3. Frank Bonner, Daily Memphian
BEST NEWS WRITER – 1. Adam Sparks, Knoxville News-Sentinel: It’s nice to have the good fortune covering Tennessee football, which has provided so many juicy storylines. The winner must have had fun writing stories on Tennessee's internal e-mails during its NCAA investigation, especially the one on then-athletic director Phillip Fulmer’s recommendations for a new head football coach if Jeremy Pruitt was fired. It’s one of the all-time great reads. 2. Teresa M. Walker, The Associated Press. 3. Cecil Joyce, Daily News Journal
BEST PREP WRITER – 1. John Varlas, Daily Memphian: Three well-rounded, thoroughly sourced and smartly written features. The feature on naming St. George’s basketball court after a former coach was especially well done, told mostly from his former players’ point of view. 2. Cecil Joyce, Daily News Journal 3. Stephen Hargis, Chattanooga Times-Free Press
BEST INVESTIGATIVE/SERIES – 1. Adam Sparks, Knoxville News-Sentinel: The winner’s three-part series of Tennessee’s extensive NCAA football investigation culled from 2,500 pages of documents obtained by the newspaper was a professionally crafted tale of the Vols’ mind-blowing brazen illegal recruiting. 2. Tim Buckley and Phil Stukenborg, Daily Memphian 3. Drew Hill, Daily Memphian
BEST SPECIAL SECTIONS (ALL DIVISIONS COMBINED) – 1. (Tie) Chattanooga Times-Free Press (Stephen Hargis) and Union City Messenger (Kevin Weaks): It was impossible to break this tie. Both publications produced a preseason football preview section in different formats specific to their readership and coverage area. The Free Press published a high school tabloid with one-page, tightly written previews of 32 Tennessee teams and 14 Georgia teams. Easy-to-read graphics and good use of white space. The Messenger, because it has fewer teams to cover than the Free Press, had four 11-inch wide by 21-inch long sections, three focusing on an area high school team each and one section for college and the Titans. 3. Joe Cannon, Cleveland Daily Banner
NOTE: DID NOT HAVE MULTIPLE ENTRIES TO JUDGE BEST DAILY SECTION, BEST INDIVIDUAL LAYOUT AND BEST OUTDOOR WRITER
DIVISION III
GARY LUNDY WRITER OF THE YEAR – 1. Jimmy Hyams, Off the Hook Sports.com: Strongly opinionated columns on Tennessee QB Joe Milton and suggestions on how to control NIL and the transfer portal carried the winner’s entry. 2. Russell Vannozzi, Main Street Media. 3. Kevin Weaks, Union City Messenger
BEST FEATURE WRITER – 1. Mark McGee, Shelbyville Times-Gazette/Bedford Post: Features on a high school football player overcoming a life-long medical condition, a Bronx-born high school girls basketball star excelling at Webb School and a skeet shooter were well-detailed and efficiently written. 2. Russell Vannozzi, Main Street Media. 3. Joe Cannon, Cleveland Daily Banner
BEST EVENT/NEWS WRITER – 1. Russell Vannozzi, Main Street Media: The winner led with a strong, well-organized, clearly detailed story on Lipscomb Academy’s TSSAA football probation. Then, he took more of a feature approach in two event stories that featured multiple voices, a sign he put in some legwork. 2. Charles Pulliam, Williamson Herald. 3., Jimmy Hyams, Off the Hook Sports.com
DIVISION IV
BEST FEATURE WRITER – 1. Sam Doughton, Middle Tennessee: There was just an ease in how this category winner took readers through his features. Felt like this writer went to great lengths to get multiple voices in his stories to present well-rounded profiles. 2. Thomas Corhern, Tennessee Tech 3. Mike Hutchens, Union City Schools
BEST EVENT WRITER – 1. Mike Hutchens, Union City Schools: Tough to choose a winner. 2. Sam Doughton, Middle Tennessee. 3. Thomas Corhern, Tennessee Tech