The Charlotte Observer recognized nationally for excellence in sports journalism
The Charlotte Observer, recently recognized for having the best sports coverage in North Carolina, was honored for excellence in sports journalism by Associated Press Sports Editors.
The Observer earned nine Top 10 awards in the annual national APSE contest, including being named one of the 10 best Sunday sports sections in the country in the second-largest circulation classification.
Individual Top 10 awards were as follows:
- Andrew Carter won first place in breaking news for his story on the speedway in Alamance County defying the governor’s orders to host races with mass gatherings during the pandemic.
- Scott Fowler took second place in column writing and had one first-place vote.
- NASCAR reporter Alex Andrejev took third place in the beat writing contest and had one first-place vote.
- She also was awarded ninth place in short features for a piece on 88-year-old NASCAR legend Redd Farmer refusing to stop racing after nearly dying from COVID-19.
- In the long feature category, Fowler was awarded sixth place (Human toll of disbanding the Appalachian State soccer program) and Carter was seventh place (Surreal ending of the ACC tournament).
- Carter was also awarded fifth place (one first-place vote) in explanatory writing for his story on COVID-19 breaking the college sports financial model.
- In the video contest, Jeff Siner took sixth place.
In addition to The Observer’s awards, columnist Luke DeCock, based out of the News & Observer in Raleigh, was awarded fifth place in short feature writing in the largest circulation classification for his story on the gym where Michael Jordan’s basketball career started. The Durham Herald-Sun won four individual awards: NC State reporter Jonas Pope took sixth place in explanatory writing, Emily Leiker was fourth in the same category, Madeline Coleman was ninth in short features and Pope, Chapel Fowler, Parth Upadhyaya and Patrick Obley won for projects in Category D.