Tuscaloosa News, Montgomery Advertiser win 17 APSE awards
Journalists who cover sports in Alabama for the USA TODAY Network took home 17 national honors for their work in 2023 by the Associated Press Sports Editors, with Nick Kelly winning six awards and The Tuscaloosa News garnering a Triple Crown for placing in three key categories.
Kelly, the University of Alabama athletics beat writer for The Tuscaloosa News, placed in the top 10 in the Investigative category for his coverage of former Crimson Tide basketball player Darius Miles facing capital murder charges. The Investigative category is judged across news organizations of all sizes, with Kelly joining journalists from USA TODAY, The Philadelphia Inquirer and ESPN.com, among others, in being honored.
He also placed in five categories in the D Division for small news organizations: Beat Writing for his Alabama coverage portfolio; in Event Coverage along with Mikey DiLullo and Max Donaldson for their work on the gambling scandal that resulted in the firing of Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon; in Long
Feature for his story on Nate Oats' background as a football player and Nick Saban's as a high school basketball player; in Short Feature for his story on KoolAid McKinstry; and in the Game Story category for his coverage of Alabama's victory over Auburn in the Iron Bowl.
Donaldson now works for the Gadsden Times and DiLullo is a sports writer at Houma Today in Louisiana.
The Tuscaloosa News placed in Digital for its tuscaloosanews.com website and Print Portfolio. The top 10 finish in Event Coverage completed the Triple Crown.
Chase Goodbread of The Tuscaloosa
News placed in Columns for his portfolio of work and in Long Feature for his profile of former Alabama football player Jimmy Johns.
Richard Silva of the Montgomery Advertiser also placed in Long Feature for his story on Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne.
Montgomery Advertiser photographers Jake Crandall and Mickey Welsh both placed in Action Photo and Feature Photo, as did Gary Cosby Jr. of The Tuscaloosa News.