Knox News wins seven awards in Associated Press Sports Editors contest
Knox News won seven awards in its circulation division and contributed to two others for sports coverage in 2022 from the Associated Press Sports Editors in its annual contest.
The honors were among the 22 awards won by the USA TODAY Network – Tennessee.
Sports editors and journalists throughout the country voted on top-10 placements in various writing, website, print newspaper and photography categories, which were split into four divisions based on newspaper circulation or digital readership size. Knox News is in the C Division but entered the more competitive B Division with bigger metros like the Kansas City Star, Buffalo News, Charlotte Observer, Indianapolis Star, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Salt Lake Tribune and San Antonio Express-News.
The exact order of finish in the writing and photography contests will be announced later. The website and print contests do not rank the winners.
Tennessee football beat writer Adam Sparks placed top 10 in prestigious investigative writing, which combines all entries into one category instead of four circulation divisions. He led the Network with four wins overall.
Other winners for Knox News was Brianna Paciorka for feature photo (Tennessee football win over Alabama); Sparks for short feature (Tennessee football player Byron Young); Sparks and Paciorka for event coverage (Tennessee football win over Alabama); Mike Wilson for beat writing and Saul Young for action photo. Sparks and Wilson also combined for a top 10 in breaking news (NCAA investigation).
Former high school writer Emily Adams contributed to The Tennessean's top 10 for projects on NIL and high school sports. In the C and D combined division for projects, Adams and Cora Hall also contributed to The Fayetteville Observer's top 10 for Title IX at 50 in the South.
Five of the Network’s news organizations — The Tennessean, Knox News, The Commercial Appeal, Daily News Journal and The Jackson Sun — were recognized.
The Tennessean had six placements in B Division: Gentry Estes for short feature; Andrew Nelles for action photo and feature photo; George Walker III for feature photo; The Tennessean sports staff for projects; and The Tennessean website for digital.
The Commercial Appeal had six placements in C Division: Mark Giannotto in event coverage; Jason Munz in beat writing and event coverage; Wynston Wilcox in breaking news and short feature and The Commercial Appeal website in digital and video excellence. Giannotto and Munz combined on the event coverage award.
The Jackson Sun had two placements in D Division: Chris Day in action photo and feature photo.
The Daily News Journal had one placement in D Division: Cecil Joyce in short feature.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knox News wins seven awards in Associated Press Sports Editors contest
