The Times Free Press sports department was recognized recently with several Tennessee Sports Writers Association awards. Columnist Mark Wiedmer was named the state's Best Event Writer and won a second place in Best Columnist and third place in both the Best Feature Writer and overall Writer of the Year categories.
Judges praised Wiedmer's three events stories: "The easy winner in this category, the writer showed his scribing chops covering three vastly different events - the SEC football championship game, a USA regional boxing qualifier and the funeral of a popular 16-year-old basketball player. The latter two stories required a lot of legwork from the writer, and it showed."
The TFP's college football preview magazine also won first place for Best Special Section, and sports editor Stephen Hargis took second in the Best Prep Writer category.
Judges said of the college football preview section, "This might be the only newspaper in America whose preseason football section is a slick 67-page magazine with insightful writing and graphics that rivals any of the best preseason mags on newsstands. For a local paper, this special section edited by Stephen Hargis is a stunning achievement."