Newsday wins two prestigious Associated Press Sports Editors top-10 honors

Newsday earned two prestigious honors in The Associated Press Sports Editors annual contest, finishing in the top 10 nationally for Sunday section and digital.

Both entries were honored in "Division A," which is the largest circulation category in the country. The results were announced this week.

"This is a terrific honor for the entire sports staff and shows the depth and breadth of our reporting, editing and storytelling abilities," Newsday sports editor Hank Winnicki said. "The competition is so tough, and I’m immensely proud of the strong work we continue to do across platforms."

This is the fourth straight year Newsday’s Sunday section has placed in the top 10.

Newsday’s Sunday section entry featured extensive coverage of the Islanders’ first game in UBS Arena, coverage of an emotional day as a Subway Series game between the Mets and Yankees was played on the anniversary of 9/11, a preview of the Tokyo Summer Olympics highlighting Long Island athletes competing in the Games, coverage of the U.S. Open tennis tournament women’s singles finals, and coverage of a high school football Saturday in November.

"The Sunday product is a culmination of hard and dedicated work by Newsday’s talented reporters, photographers, designers and desk editors," Newsday Sunday section editor Dave Whitehorn said. "These journalists should be as proud of their effort as I am in that, once again, they have been recognized nationally. I extend my congratulations to the staff."

Newsday’s digital entry featured a special report on why there aren’t more Black people in baseball’s top positions, and what the game is doing to fix it. The story was written by Laura Albanese and Neville Harvey provided illustrations. The package included graphics, timelines and video.

The entry also included a feature by Brian Heyman on Andrew Capobianco’s journey from Long Island to the U.S. Olympic diving team. The package included graphics, photos from Capobianco’s youth, and video. Mark La Monica’s feature on Levittown’s Gian Villante preparing for his final MMA fight, which included photos, video and a list of Villante’s fights throughout his career, a video on how the Islanders’ new UBS Arena was constructed, and a video by Reece T. Williams with reporting by Julia Elbaba on Alyssa Accordino, MacArthur High School’s first female football player, completed the winning entry.