JOURNAL SPORTS

NATCHITOCHES – Shreveport-Bossier Journal writers won 17 awards Sunday as the Louisiana Sports Writers Association announced its 2023 Writing Contest results, with John James Marshall taking the prestigious Story of the Year award.

Marshall won three first-place awards, two third places and two fourth places. Judges from around the country assess entries in 16 writing categories.

The Story of the Year was a feature spotlighting Haughton kicker Coleman Pratt, who despite dwarfism, joined the Bucs’ football team and kicked an extra point in an early-season win over Barbe. Only the winning stories from all categories are considered in the judging for Story of the Year.

It was first a winner in the Prep Feature Division I category.

That contest judge wrote “This piece is a great example of what can happen when a good story meets good writing. The subject matter – a boy with dwarfism who kicked an extra point in a varsity football game – is unusual and unusually well-handled. The tale itself was wonderfully well-constructed: The lead piqued my interest, the kicker split the uprights and there was plenty of good storytelling in between.”

Said the Story of the Year contest judge: “The writer presents Coleman Pratt’s story of courage, perseverance, and determination with evocative detail. The writer situates the story within the firm foundation of the people and places that shaped Coleman Pratt. Beyond great sportswriting, this is human-interest writing at its best.”

Marshall also won the Prep Column category in Division I for his piece saying high school football games should not be played at Independence Stadium.

“This columnist got right to the point and backed up the argument with solid information,” the judge wrote. “The kicker (to the story) was strong and left no doubt which side of the fence this writer was on regarding this topic.” 

Ron Higgins, who was enshrined in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Saturday night with the LSWA’s Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism, picked up four contest awards Sunday. The Journal’s LSU beat writer since last July won for work written earlier in 2023 for Tiger Details. 

Higgins was the winner in the College Event contest for Class I for his story written last summer about the LSU baseball team winning College World Series.

“An all-encompassing good read,” said the category judge. “A really enjoyable setup in the first few paragraphs tying Jay Johnson with Skip Bertman. The writer does a good job of focusing less on the play-by-play of a blowout game with the significance of the national championship. Blowouts are hard to write sometimes but can also be done effectively. The writing is clean, crisp and keeps the story moving. The context of describing the pitching situations for both teams also was important, and the writer injected that into the story at the right time. This was well done from start to finish.”  

Journal writer and columnist Teddy Allen took second in College Columns in Class I for a piece on the downside of the transfer portal, and was third in the Amateur Sports (Open Class) with a column on the evolution of youth baseball tournaments.

Journal writer/columnist Doug Ireland took a third in Class I Columnist of the Year competition and was fourth in the Class I Prep Column contest for his column bemoaning the poor information flow from the 2023 girls Marsh Madness state basketball tournament in Hammond.

Ireland’s win in the general column contest came in Class II for a piece that originally ran in the Natchitoches Parish Journal and a day later in the SBJ, addressing cancellation of Northwestern State’s football season after a player’s shooting death last October.

“This is a sobering and insightful piece of journalism. It goes far beyond sports and speaks to a widespread problem in America, where it seems the only accountability expected of institutions is toward those who have the most money/power/influence. And without accountability, how can there possibly be justice?” wrote the judge.

“I’m left with a sense that the general public will never truly know what happened here, and that’s a sad, frustrating feeling. But stories like this are the most important ones we can write. After all, it’s better to be a ‘prisoner of hope’ than to have no hope at all.”

Ireland was the Class I third-place finisher in the Columnist of the Year competition for work that was originally published in the SBJ. He captured the Class II Columnist of the Year award was for work that initially ran in the Natchitoches Parish Journal.

“The winner drew me in immediately via the first column with a history piece appealing to readers no matter what generation they claim. Awesome detail, without bogging down the flow. Hit a lot of fun, hot topics: rivalry, scheduling, conference membership. It was an ‘advance’ column that would make me want to go watch the game, just knowing all that had – and had not – preceded the matchup,” wrote the judge.

“The second column again was the beneficiary of great detail in a newsy item turned into a terrific piece. I felt well-informed and smarter about local history after reading it. The third column tackled a tough subject with a personalized lead, good reporting, super writing and – again – terrific detail.”