Sports Journalism Columbia Missourian News Releases Awards

Missouri Journalism Students, Columbia Missourian Win 7 Awards in Associated Press Sports Editors Contest

APSE Award Winning PhotoThe National Competition, Judged by Professional Sports Editors, Recognizes Excellence

Columbia, Mo. (March 27, 2014) — The work of six Missouri School of Journalism students and the Columbia Missourian won seven top national honors in the annual Associated Press Sports Editors‘ writing and sections contest that were judged recently in Indianapolis.

Page B-1 of the Columbia Missourian from Nov. 14, 2013
Page B-1 of the Columbia Missourian from Nov. 14, 2013

The winning entries highlighted local high school football and basketball, University of Missouri athletics as well as a profile on a rodeo queen hopeful. Greg Bowers, sports editor, and Brian Kratzer, director of photography, supervised the winners’ work, which was completed while students at the School.

“Recognition from the industry is always a good thing, especially for students who are aiming to enter that industry,” Bowers said. “The section awards are especially satisfying in that they recognize the team effort. I’m proud of the team.”

Judges placed the Missourian in the Top Five of Sunday and daily sections for newspapers under-15,000 circulation. The Missourian also won an honorable mention for papers with an under-30,000 circulation. This is the ninth consecutive year the Missourian has been recognized for overall excellence by the professional sports journalists who are members of APSE.

Two awards were won in the multimedia category. Roxana Pop and Meredith Turk won for “Missouri’s Miss Teen Rodeo Rides Again,” which ran on June 11, 2013, in the Missourian. Pop and Turk are master’s students at the School.

Page B-1 of the Columbia Missourian from April 14-15, 2013
Page B-1 of the Columbia Missourian from April 14-15, 2013

Timmy Huynh, MA ’13, and master’s student Katie Alaimo won for “Upward Basketball League About More Than Winning,” which ran on Jan. 28, 2013, in the Missourian. Huynh is currently a photo editor at The Wall Street Journal.

In the explanatory writing category, Andrew Wagaman, BJ ’13, won for “Concussion Worries Cause Tension in Columbia’s Youth Football Community,” which ran on May 1, 2013, in the Missourian. Wagaman is now the sports intern at The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk.

Beat writing honors went to Brendan Meyer, BJ ’13, who covered collegiate basketball for the Missourian while a student. He is currently road tripping across the U.S. to find a job, telling stories along the way at FrontSeatStories.com.

The Top 5 in each writing category will be announced later this year. The Missourian competes in the under 30,000-circulation category and has won almost four-dozen APSE awards in the past nine years.

APSE is a national organization that works to improve standards for sports departments of professional news organizations and to recognize professional excellence among its membership. Members are sports editors and reporters at daily newspapers across the U.S.

Updated: July 23, 2020

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