Premier Awards - Best Sports Coverage ( Circulation up to 1499,Circulation 1500 to 3999,Circulation 4000 to 6499,Circulation 6500 to 9999)
Back
Place Name:
First Place
Contestant Name:
The Carillon (Steinbach, MB)
Entry Title:
Sports Coverage
Entry Credit:
Cassidy Dankochik
Judge Comment:
The Carillon excelled in its sports coverage through its array of coverage, high quality writing and photography and a little something else: a sense the reporter really knew the community and its history. I was pulled in right away by the referee story. The reporter puts the reader on the scene with the tensions at an amateur soccer game and details the overall issue of referee abuse. It's an excellent piece of reportage. The quality of writing and photography in the sports section is high overall. There is careful attention paid to informative CP Style photo captions which are one of the most read pieces of text on a page. There is some generational coverage with the golfing story. The sports column was informative and entertaining.
The editor's entrant letter details a thoughtful approach to the sports section. I have to imagine this is a very small shop. The community is well served by this sports coverage and its talented sports editor and team.
Place Name:
Second Place
Contestant Name:
Rocky Mountain Outlook (Canmore/Kananaskis/BanffAB
Entry Title:
Rocky Mountain Outlook – Best Sports Coverage – Jordan Small
Entry Credit:
Jordan Small, Jessica Lee
Judge Comment:
The Rocky Mountain Outlook's sports coverage is superb and its photography is second to none. There is an array of stories, athletes covered, and a well-explained issues story about biathlon funding. The quality of writing and reporting is excellent. The story about indigenous boxing was particularly strong and the photo of the young female athlete is other worldly.
The print and online formats are complementary and the use of photo sliders on the online stories is very effective and allows more photos to be displayed.
The community is well served by this talented staff.
Place Name:
Third Place
Contestant Name:
Tofino-Ucluelet Westerly News (Tofino/Ucluelet, BC
Entry Title:
Westerly News sports coverage
Entry Credit:
Andrew Bailey
Judge Comment:
Very high quality sports coverage and a wonderful selection of sports that give insight into the community and the competition, plus fun and excitement that is happening there. There is high-quality writing and reporting. The set of surfing photos is particularly strong and seeing the kids was simply joyous.
Competition Comment:
Sports editors (and their staff) are doing a superb job covering sports in their communities. The entrants were strong and this was a difficult competition to adjudicate.
This year there seemed to be more attention given to balancing the coverage of both male and female athletes. I do note while there were several stories about older men I don't recall many, if any, older female athletes in the submitted coverage.
This year also brought some very good issues-oriented stories from high-level sports funding to referee abuse. Historical sporting stories were also very interesting.
I also particularly loved the "shorts" or quick sports hits and local sports columns.
You simply can't beat the joy of victory and this came across in your pages especially when a small town team or province beat bigger competitors.
There was ample original photography which takes additional time and effort and added greatly to the coverage.
I might note that I appreciated those entrants who paid careful attention to writing explanatory photo captions because they are so highly read. If you have a team in a photo make sure to list all the names as readers love that. I'd encourage entrants to use Canadian Press photo caption rules as your photo captions are a highly read part of your story.
I appreciated those entrants that took time to provide a thoughtful judging statement. Knowing what you were trying to accomplish and seeing this through your eyes assisted me greatly.
Many of your stories gave insights into our great and varied Canadian communities and have stayed with me. Thank you for submitting.
