CA’S Higgins wins five state awards

LEBANON — Commercial Appeal staff reporter Ron Higgins won five awards, including three firsts and two seconds, in the annual Tennessee Sports Writers Association writing contest.

The results were announced at the organization’s annual convention Thursday night at Cumberland University.

Higgins won the Gary Lundy “Writer of the Year” award for the 10th time and eighth time in the last 10 years. His winning entry included a behind-the-scenes look at Hugh Freeze’s first game week as Ole Miss’ football coach, a three-story deadline package on the death of former Memphis and UAB basketball coach Gene Bartow and a feature on former NBA and Memphis basketball star Penny Hardaway’s growing community involvement.

Judges said of Higgins’ entry, “Great range — an in- depth and touching obit, a takeout on the life of a coach and a wellcrafted feature on Penny Hardaway — showed the writer’s skill. There were singular stories that may have been better, but for ‘Writer of the Year,’ this was the best, most complete entry.”

Higgins also was first as best feature writer for his Freeze and Hardaway stories, as well as a story on Ole Miss offensive co- ordinator Dan Werner, a widower balancing his job with being a dad. Higgins won best investigative/series for his three-story coverage of Bartow’s death.

Said the judges of Higgins’ features, “The topic and tone difference in the entries shows real diversity. The Hugh Freeze story may have been 100-plus inches, but it read like 20. Well done.”

Higgins also won second place as best news writer and best columnist.