Standard sports writers tops in state
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Sports editor Rob Nunley was named the Division III winner of the Gary Lundy Writer of the Year Award, while he and sports writer Dale Stubblefield finished first and second, respectively, in the Best News/Event Writer category.
Additionally, Nunley came away with third place in the Division II Best Columnist category, and the sports department’s 2004 “Fall Sports” tabloid was the third-place honoree for the Best Special Section award.
“We’re pretty excited to hear about these awards,” Nunley said. “It’s a nice honor, especially because in the TSWA awards, we’re being recognized by people in our field.
“There are some really talented sports writers and great sports sections in this organization, and just to be recognized with them, let alone finish ahead of them in some of these award categories, is a really big deal for us.”
The TSWA awards were based on submitted articles from the previous years, and are divided into three categories: Division I, for large daily newspapers; Division II, for small dailies; and Division III, for non-daily papers, including the Standard. Writers from Division III papers, which offer less award categories than the larger divisions, have the option of competing against Division II in any of its categories, including the Best Columnist division.
Beginning this year, the Writer of the Year Award in all three divisions was named to honor Gary Lundy, the former News Sentinel sports writer who died last fall. Lundy was one of the charter members of the TSWA when the organization was created in 1987.
For that category, winners of which are determined by judging what each entrant selects as his best three pieces of work from the previous year, Nunley submitted “Santa letters from sports stars” from December, 2004, as well as a “Robservations” column on the Congressional steroid hearings and his story from March 30, 2005 on the resignation of coach Chris Turner.
According to the judges’ critiques, the stories “showed the most versatility and creativity, and delivered opinion and hard news.”
Said Standard executive editor Patricia Zechman, “The Standard couldn’t be happier to have these guys on staff. Rob and Dale have done a first-rate job delivering local sports coverage to this community.”