BWAA BARNEYS WINNERS ANNOUNCED
In perhaps the most diversified voting results to date, the judges for the 11th annual Boxing Writers Association of America writing contest, known as the “Barneys” in honor of the late BWAA president Barney Nagler, have tabbed different first-place winners in each of the six categories.
Taking top Barneys honors are Michael Rosenthal, of RINGTV.com, for Event Coverage; Bernard Fernandez, of the Philadelphia Daily News, for Column; Lee Groves, of RINGTV.com, for News Story; Tom Gerbasi, of Boxingscene.com, for Feature Under 1,750 words; Ron Borges, of Boxing Monthly, for Feature Over 1,750 Words, and Springs Toledo, of Thesweetscience.com, for Investigative Reporting.
Judging was done on a blind basis, with all entries submitted with bylines and other identifying marks as to authorship removed, and on a weighted point system.
All award winners will be recognized at the 87th annual BWAA Awards Dinner to be held June 6 at the Copacabana in New York City. The event also will honor boxers who excelled in 2011, including Andre Ward, Bernard Hopkins, and Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko. Information is available at bwaa.org.
Borges also tied for third in Event Coverage, for a fight report
written for the Boston Herald, with Toledo taking third in News Story. Other multiple placers in the top three include Kieran Mulvaney, of ESPN.com, with seconds in Event Coverage and (tie) Feature Over 1,750 Words; Thomas Hauser, second in Investigative Reporting (for Secondsout.com) and (tie) Feature Over 1,750 Words (for Toprank.com), and Eric Raskin, third in Feature Under 1,750 Words and Investigative
Reporting, for stories written for Grantland.com.
In the unofficial sweepstakes competition, with five points for a first place, four for a second, three for a third and one for an
honorable mention, RINGTV.com finished with 13 points to 12 for
Thesweetscience.com, 11 for Boxingscene.com, nine for Boxing Monthly and eight for ESPN.com.
EVENT COVERAGE
1. Michael Rosenthal, RINGTV.com
2. Kieran Mulvaney, ESPN.com
3. (tie) Mitch Abramson, NYdailynews.com; Ron Borges, Boston Herald
Honorable Mention
Bart Barry, 15 rounds.com; Bill Dwyre, Los Angeles Times; David P.
Greisman, Boxingscene.com; David Weinberg, The Press of Atlantic City
COLUMN
1. Bernard Fernandez, Philadelphia Daily News
2. (tie) David P. Greisman, Boxingscene.com; Gordon Marino, The Wall
Street Journal; Kieran Mulvaney, ESPN.com
3. William Dettloff, RINGTV.com
Honorable Mention
Bart Barry, 15rounds.com; Ron Borges, Boston Herald; Springs Toledo,
Thesweetscience.com
NEWS STORY
1. Lee Groves, RINGTV.com
2. Lance Pugmire, Los Angeles Times
3. Springs Toledo, Thesweetscience.com
Honorable Mention
Bill Dwyre, Los Angeles Times; David P. Greisman, Boxingscene.com;
Thomas Hauser, The Ring; Gordon Marino, The Wall Street Journal; Don
Steinberg, Philly.com; George Willis, New York Post
FEATURE UNDER 1,750 WORDS
1. Tom Gerbasi, Boxingscene.com
2. Steve Farhood, Boxing Monthly
3. Eric Raskin, Grantland.com
Honorable Mention
Bart Barry, 15rounds.com; Bill Dwyre, Los Angeles Times; Lee Groves,
Compuboxonline.com; Matthew Hurley, Secondsout.com; Chris Mannix,
Sports Illustrated; Lance Pugmire, Los Angeles Times.
FEATURE OVER 1,750 WORDS
1. Ron Borges, Boxing Monthly
2. (tie) Adam Berlin, Boxing.com; Chris Mannix, Sports Illustrated
3. (tie) Thomas Hauser, Toprank.com; Ronan Keenan, Thesweetscience.com
Honorable Mention
Bernard Fernandez, Philadelphia Daily News; Norm Frauenheim, The Ring
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
1. Springs Toledo, Thesweetscience.com
2. Thomas Hauser, Secondsout.com
3. Eric Raskin, Grantland.com
Honorable Mention
Ron Borges, The Ring; William Dettloff, The Ring; Norm Frauenheim,
15rounds.com; David Weinberg, The Press of Atlantic City
JUDGES
Rick Bozich, Louisville Courier-Journal; Ivan Maisel, ESPN.com;
David Schwartz, University of Iowa, School of Journalism and Mass
Communication; Jerry Sullivan, The Buffalo News; Paul Vigna,
Harrisburg Patriot-News; Dr. Denny Wilkins, Saint Bonaventure
University, School of Journalism
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
