Times Sports Section Wins Honors in AP Sports Editors’ Competition

The Times sports section was named in the top 10 among papers with more than 175,000 circulation in the daily, Sunday and special-section categories of the annual Associated Press Sports Editors’ contest. The APSE does not rank the top 10 in numerical order.

In addition, the Times finished second in the best news story category for Assistant Sports Editor John Cherwa’s look at the finances of the National Football League during a strike year.

The Times also received honorable mention in the enterprise category for an examination of early death among former NFL players, by Chris Dufresne and Gene Wojciechowski; in investigations for a series of articles by Maryann Hudson on the United States Gymnastics Federation, and in best news story for Mike Downey’s coverage of Bruce Kimball at the U.S. Olympic diving trials.

The Los Angeles Daily News was named in the top 10 among papers with a circulation between 50,001 and 175,000 in the daily and Sunday categories. The Orange County Register finished in the top 10 in Sunday for papers of more than 175,000 and the Pasadena Star News was named in Sunday sections in the 50,000-and-under circulation group.

Mark Barnhill, Beth Barrett, Doug Cress, Phil Rosenthal, Eric Sondheimer and Johannes Tesselar of the L.A. Daily News won for best news story in the 50,001-to-175,000 category for their coverage of Chris Mills and alleged improprieties in the Kentucky basketball program.