PD sports section named one of the best in the country

The Press Democrat’s sports section has been named one of the top 10 sections in the country by the Associated Press Sports Editors.

The national recognition in Category B, the second-largest circulation category, also went to the Baltimore Sun, the IndyStar in Indianapolis; the Las Vegas Review-Journal; the Lexington Herald-Leader; the Omaha World-Herald; PennLive/Patriot News in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; the Roanoke Times in Virginia; the Spokesman Review in Spokane, Washington; and the Villages Daily Sun in Florida. The winning sections are not ranked but rather comprise a national top 10.

“This is truly a team award, and each member of our sports department should feel proud of the job they do, day in and day out, to make this section the best it can be,” Sports Editor John Schlegel said. “We strive to do everything we can to cover sports not only in Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake counties, but in the Bay Area and the sports world as a whole. We were up against papers in much larger media markets and held our own among them as one of the best.”

The judges at the APSE looked at issues from June, November and December.

A June edition had a news story by Lori Carter on the Chicago White Sox drafting Maria Carrillo graduate Andrew Vaughn as the third overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft and a column by Phil Barber on the Warriors’ DeMarcus Cousins. Another June section entered in the contest covered the last game of the NBA Finals, including a column by Barber and a ?front-page piece by Carter on the farewell to Oracle Arena.

Judges also looked at an edition in November that featured a Kerry Benefield column on ?Montgomery grad and elite marathoner Sara Bei Hall, a Barber column on a Thursday night Raiders game and a Carter piece previewing the regular-season finale between the Piner and Santa Rosa high school football teams.

The final edition judged was a December issue in which Benefield profiled Cardinal Newman kicker Ethan Kollenborn after his North Coast Section title-winning field goal the weekend before, and a Barber column on how the disastrous Altamont rock concert came very close to being held at Sonoma Raceway.

“We are always trying to do more, but the winning entry shows just how much we cover at the PD, and the quality delivered by our writers and editors on a daily basis,” Schlegel said.

The Press Democrat’s website earned an honorable mention from the APSE judges as well.

Newspapers receiving honorable mention for their daily sections were the Cincinnati Enquirer, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Detroit News, the Record in Bergen, New Jersey, and the Tulsa World.

The Press Democrat sports staff consists of columnists Barber and Benefield; reporter Carter; freelancers C.W. Nevius and Grant Cohn; and members of the copy editing and design team, including Corey Young, Tom Sepulveda, Steven Berkowsky, Doug Amador and Frank Marqua.