ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Tuscaloosa News has been honored with the highest award by The Associated Press Sports Editors for the fifth time in the last six years, garnering Grand Slam status for top-10 finishes in the daily sections, special sections, Sunday sections and website categories in its division for work done in 2017.
The Tuscaloosa News has been honored with either Grand Slam or Triple Crown (top 10 in three of the key categories) for excellence since 2009. APSE honors are based upon judging by sports editors from across the country.
The Tuscaloosa News has earned top-10 honors in the website category for its Tuscaloosanews.com and Tidesports.com entry for nine straight years, since the category’s inception. It is joined by The New York Times and The Washington Post as the only news organizations to garner website honors in each of the last nine years.
Additionally, The Tuscaloosa News had four top-10 finishes in the writing/multimedia categories:
• Cecil Hurt was honored in breaking news for his story on Alabama firing Kobie Baker from its athletics administration staff after his involvement in matters covered by the FBI probe into college basketball.
• Ben Jones was honored in feature writing for his story on Alabama’s athletic training staff and its role in helping players get back on the field after injuries.
• Tommy Deas and Molly Catherine Walsh made top five in multimedia for their “Your Guide to Tuscaloosa Regional Softball” entry, which included stories, capsules, video and social media posts.
• Deas was honored along with Walsh, Joey Chandler, Drew Taylor and Drew Hill in the projects category for “Should Your Kid Play Football,” an in-depth report on the risks and benefits of the sport, covering issues ranging from the medical to social to economic impact of football.
Final rankings in the writing and multimedia categories will be announced in March.
Six other news organizations garnered Grand Slam honors: The Boston Globe and Los Angeles Times in the over-175,000 circulation division, The Indianapolis Star and The Seattle Times in the 75,001-175,000 division, The Tulsa World in the 30,000-75,000 division and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle in the under-15,000 division. The Tuscaloosa News competes in the under-30,000 division.
