Sun Journal sports department earns awards

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Sun Journal sports department has been honored with multiple awards in the annual Associated Press Sports Editors contest this week, and results continue to be tabulated.

In judging the best work from 2017, APSE honored the Sun Journal Sunday sports section as a top-10 section in its size category, which includes dozens of publications from Maine to California. The Sun Journal’s daily section was an “honorable mention” (top 15) selection in the same size category, papers circulating fewer than 30,000 copies.

The sports staff also earned a top-5 honor in multimedia reporting for its digital presentation of its fall sports previews, and photographer Daryn Slover took home a top-5 finish in the “short video” category for his work on a hockey story featuring Lewiston High School’s Jeromey Rancourt.

Also, Justin Pelletier, managing editor nights/sports, staff writer Nathan Fournier and contributing photographer Ron Morin Jr. earned a top-10 in project reporting for their work on the Lewiston Maineiacs retrospective in June 2017.

Exact story rankings will be released later in the spring, ahead of the APSE summer conference and awards banquet in Nashville, in June.

Other Maine newspapers earned honors, as well. The Waterville Morning Sentinel, part of the Central Maine Newspapers, was selected among the best in the Under-15,000 circulation category for daily sports sections, and the Portland Press Herald earned a top-10 award in the 30-75,000 category. The Kennebec Journal also earned a top award for its website in the Under-15,000 category.

More awards are still being judged and this story will be updated with more results, if applicable, as they become official.