Courier Journal takes home Kentucky Press Association awards. Check out the winners

The Courier Journal's staff won 19 awards in the annual Kentucky Press Association contest over the weekend.

Sportswriter Hayes Gardner swept all three awards for sports feature writing, while Tessa Duvall was honored in four categories for follow-up stories on Breonna Taylor’s death in 2020. Three of those were won with former reporter Darcy Costello, who now works for the Baltimore Sun.

Joseph Gerth won for best columnist, and Tim Sullivan for best sports columnist.

Cameron Teague Robinson was recognized for best sports story, for a report on how U of L football's 2020 season survived COVID-19.

Here are the details:

News winners

• Best General News Story, 1st Place, Darcy Costello, Tessa Duvall: "Breonna Taylor death: Unsafe to take a single shot”

• Best Breaking News Coverage, 2nd Place, Tessa Duvall: “LMPD cop involved in Taylor raid writing book”

• Best General News Story, 3rd Place, Bailey Loosemore: “Mobile home park residents evicted”

• Best Enterprise or Analytical Story, 1st Place, Darcy Costello: “Secret meetings”

• Best Enterprise or Analytical Story, 2nd Place, Darcy Costello and Tessa Duvall: “Use of force”

• Best Investigative Series, 2nd Place, Bailey Loosemore and Hayes Gardner: "Beyond Breonna"

• Best On-Going/Extended Coverage Story, 1st Place, Tessa Duvall, Darcy Costello: "Louisville police seek to fire 2 more officers connected to fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor"; "Chief: Officer to be fired 'did not identify a specific target' in Breonna Taylor shooting"; "Louisville police fire 2 detectives, others disciplined, in Breonna Taylor shooting"; "Fired cop says his 'nearly unblemished career' is being judged by Breonna Taylor warrant"; "Cops shouldn't have fired a 'single shot' at Breonna Taylor's home, LMPD investigator says"; "LMPD investigator accused officers of purposely underplaying risk of Breonna Taylor search"; "Did he lie or didn't he? Ex-cop who got Breonna Taylor warrant fights for his job back"; "Disciplined cops vs. the chief: Who the Louisville police merit board usually sides with"; "You can't cheat': Ex-chief stands firm on firing cop who took out Breonna Taylor warrant"; "Joshua Jaynes' lawyer says the fix was in on his firing. The Merit Board disagreed"; "Former LMPD detective fired for lying on Breonna Taylor search warrant sues to get rehired"

• Best On-Going/Extended Coverage, 2nd place staff: "2021 Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit test comes back positive for betamethasone"

• Best On-Going/Extended Coverage Story, 3rd Place, Bailey Loosemore: “Evictions wear on renters”

• Best Business/Agribusiness Story, 3rd Place, Morgan Watkins: "Ford to locate 5,000 jobs"

• Best Columnist, 1st Place, Joseph Gerth: “On Muhammad Ali's birthday, Black athletes are still being told to 'shut up and dribble'”

• Best Columnist, 3rd Place, Maggie Menderski: “Trove of trinkets left to honor Ali”

Sports winners

• Best Sports Columnist, 1st Place, Tim Sullivan: “Paul Hornung was known for high achievements in sports”

• Best Sports Story, 1st Place, Cameron Teague Robinson: “How U of L football's 2020 season survived COVID-19"

• Best Sports Story, 2nd Place, Jon Hale: “How Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart responded to fans upset about team kneeling during anthem”

• Best Sports Story, 3rd Place, Jason Frakes: “Trinity football coach Bob Beatty retires after winning 15 state titles”

• Best Sports Feature Story, 1st Place, Hayes Gardner: "Kentucky, KHSAA has most unique state championship system in nation"

• Best Sports Feature Story, 2nd Place, Hayes Gardner: “Kenny Davis still refuses silver medal from 1972 Olympics"

• Best Sports Feature Story, 3rd Place, Hayes Gardner: "One of MLB's first Black players, Fleet Walker, played in Louisville"

• Best sports picture, first place, Michael Clubb (freelancer)

Contact Ayana Archie at aarchie@courier-journal.com or follow on Twitter @AyanaArchie. Support strong local journalism by subscribing to The Courier Journal.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Courier Journal wins KPA awards for sports, Breonna Taylor coverage