From thoughtful investigations to in-depth exposés, your entries in our Sports Writing Competition took us beyond the playing field, arena, and score board and to the stories behind the action—stories that are sure to turn even the casual sports viewer into a diehard fan!
Below, see Guest Judge John Vitti’s winning picks, as well as the finalists!
WINNERS AND FINALISTS:
Winner: Pucks vs. Toe Picks: How Artistic Sports are Treated Differently by wisteria (US)
What makes a winning entry in a Sports Writing contest? First of all, good writing.
Secondly, it needs to have emotion and description and information. And thirdly, it has to be about sports. Wisteria’s entry, “Pucks vs. Toe Picks,” has an abundance of all three.
Wisteria’s lede, an anecdote about a school bus, hooks the reader. Because of the effectiveness of the lede, the reader is three paragraphs into the story in no time.
The word choice and description are top notch throughout—“rainbow Skechers and itchy gray gym uniform” and “There wasn’t air conditioning in the high-ceilinged gym”—and put the reader right there next to Wisteria.
The writing rhythms and word play also shine. One of the traps that reporters fall into when they are writing sports (or any nonfiction) is they feel like they can’t use the tools that make writing wonderful. As a result, they resort to cliches and stats.
An example of the word usage came when talking about other sports, Wisteria uses the alliterative “shoulder pads and polyester nets.” Huge victories come from tiny words.
For rhythm and cadence, after four delightful paragraphs of memories, Wisteria drops in two very short direct quotes—three words and six words long—that jump off the page and grab the reader’s attention.
All elements of Wisteria’s writing stayed strong from beginning to end, making this the winning entry for Write the World’s 2021 Sports Writing contest.
Runner Up: Becky Hammon: Robbed by Precedent by Walker Carnathan (US)
Walker Carnathan’s entry, “Becky Hammon: Robbed by Precedent,” shined in its synthesis of all aspects of this story. By its nature, sports writing is taking disparate pieces of information and content—stats and quotes and descriptions and background and context and analysis—and packaging it for a reader to consume. Walker’s entry did all that.
The format, breaking the fourth wall to ask questions—“Who is going to hire Becky Hammon?” and “A lack of coaching success?”—is effective.
The information and quotes that were chosen were appropriate and had an impact. The bio of Hammon and the explanation of Popovich’s coaching tree were handled deftly, too.
The best writing came toward the end, starting with the Hammon quote to CNBC, “I knew I was second. I knew who they [Portland] wanted” and including Walker’s analysis (“What Hammon is “‘going up against’” is a lifetime of standard.”)
However, that section is so strong and the info that Hammon didn’t get the job is so important that, if the writer wishes to revise this draft, I’d suggest to put that information up top—the explanation of the “why” will naturally flow from it.
Well done Walker!
Finalists:
Arteta Under Pressure by Melk (Singapore)
The Marcus Rashford Mural: a Story of Heroism, Hatred, and Hope by Juefei_Wang (China)
Jules Rimet: What about the World Cup Creator by Holy_Grail (Nigeria)
Golf ‘Tradition’ is Rooted in Sexism by kate13 (US)
Ricciardo- R for Redemption by Sophia Yunwha (UK)
PEER REVIEW WINNER AND FINALISTS:
Best Peer Review: _Peanut_’s (US) review of Girls belong on girl’s sport teams
_Peanut_’s review is everything a peer review should be. It is supportive, it is helpful, it is questioning, and it is non-judgmental.
Not every suggestion from a reviewer needs to be acted upon. In the end, a story has the writer’s name on it—not the editor’s. But, done well, the peer review and editorial fixes and suggestions make a story that much better.
Well done _Peanut_!
Peer Review Finalists:
SunV’s (India) review of “Pucks vs. Toe Picks”
turns.have.tabled’s (Taiwan) review of Revelation of Euros 2020
kate13’s (US) review of The Butchery of the Ballet Body
mooncake’s (Canada) review of Becky Hammon: Robbed by Precedent