Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: Rice Entry Title: Roberts’ clutch goal gives soccer a storybook win on Senior Night Entry Credit: Cadan Hanson Judge Comment: When I think of a straight gamer in a newspaper on any day of the week, I'm thinking of a story like this. There's no bigger picture; only the picture you created with your words and quotes. There's something special in giving all the information and not leaving anyone wondering what "really" happened.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: Rice Entry Title: Volleyball takes down undefeated Texas Tech, improves to 8-1 Entry Credit: Daniel Schrager Judge Comment: Well-written and interesting, which can be difficult for volleyball coverage. Make sure to not rely too heavily on sports jargon. As newspapers transition, sports stories have to be readable by everyone.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: Del Mar College Entry Title: Moto madness Entry Credit: Logan Lankford Judge Comment: A good package that I'm glad you prioritized experiencing and covering in person. Keep an eye on grammar, punctuation use and tenses -- work with an editor when you can.
Place Name: Honorable Mention Contestant Name: Lamar University Entry Title: Short-handed Cardinals fall to Tarleton Entry Credit: Jordan Smith Judge Comment: A good straight-forward gamer that needs quotes from at least two players and a coach. Even on deadline, it's important to prioritize getting a quick quote from someone in the game.
Competition Comment: I'm excited to see a fantastic bunch of sports writers coming from Texas institutions of all sizes. However, sports writers sometimes do not receive the same type of edits that news and feature writers do, and that's a mistake. All writers at any level need to work line-by-line with an editor whenever possible to take a good gamer with bad grammar to a great gamer with no errors.
