Kansas City Star earns multiple APSE Top 10 honors for its coverage of KC sports

The Kansas City Star’s digital sports coverage at kansascity.com and via The Star’s mobile app has again garnered national recognition in the annual Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) contest.

Additionally, numerous KC Star/Wichita Eagle sportswriters — including columnists Sam McDowell and Vahe Gregorian and reporters Jesse Newell, Blair Kerkhoff, Shreyas Laddha, Kellis Robinett and Taylor Eldridge — were honored with Top 10 recognition in various categories.

Honorees were announced at this week’s APSE Winter Conference in Florida.

McDowell had a hand in multiple awards this year: He earned individual Top 10s in Column Writing and Long Feature Story and also contributed to The Star’s Top 10 Event, Project and Digital entries.

McDowell’s Long Feature was entitled “The time Travis Kelce got kicked off the team, nearly quit football, then fought back.” His Top 10-winning Columns entry, meanwhile, included the following pieces:

• A truck driver, security guard, four others. And the Patrick Mahomes story they share

• Aaron Rodgers reveals hypocrisy in challenging Chiefs’ Travis Kelce to vaccine ‘debate’

• ‘Burn the place down’: How Sporting KC flipped its season with beers and a campfire

• The NFL has earned the distrust that comes with Eric Bieniemy’s move to Washington

Laddha, who covers KU sports alongside Gary Bedore for The Star, earned a Breaking News Top 10 for his story headlined: KU men’s basketball guard Arterio Morris suspended from program after rape allegation.

The Star’s Top 10-winning Event Coverage entry chronicled the night of last year’s Super Bowl, when the Chiefs beat the Eagles in Arizona. Stories and columns in the entry, by Gregorian, McDowell, Newell and Kerkhoff, included:

• Why Super Bowl victory over Eagles was Andy Reid’s masterpiece and cements his legacy

• Patrick Mahomes’ halftime speech changed it all. His teammates got him back postgame

• Why Chiefs’ final touchdown almost never happened in Super Bowl win vs. Eagles

• How Patrick Mahomes has forever changed the game — and his legacy — in Kansas City

• Chiefs’ Kadarius Toney saw ‘blood in the water’ ... then made Super Bowl-shifting play

• With Super Bowl scoop and score TD, KC Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton lived his dream

The Star also placed Top 10 in the Projects category for leadup coverage of the 2023 NFL Draft in Kansas City. This entry included contributions from a host of Star journalists, including: Newell, McDowell, Gregorian, Kerkhoff, Neil Nakahodo, Pete Grathoff, Herbie Teope, Chris Ochsner, Tammy Ljungblad, Nick Wagner, Emily Curiel, Judy Thomas, Bob Cronkleton and Joseph Hernandez:

• The Draft is about to begin. What it means for Kansas City and the Chiefs

• How the NFL Draft made the league what it is today ... and became a fan phenomenon

• How KC plans to keep fans safe at NFL Draft’s biggest stage (it could have been bigger)

• The 5 best fits for KC Chiefs in 2023 NFL Draft — and the likelihood they’ll get them

• These all-time KC Chiefs draft bargains share their NFL (and AFL) selection stories

• Chiefs seven-round mock draft 4.0: Trade possibilities and a final Round 1 prediction

• How to get to Kansas City’s NFL Draft: Your guide to parking, public transit and more

• NFL Draft will bring thousands to Kansas City. Here’s the latest on final preparations

• The 2023 NFL Draft Experience is here. Our interactive map gives you all the details

• Live NFL Draft updates: KC Chiefs trade up, pick UW corner No. 21, edge rusher No. 30

K-State beat reporter Robinett, who writes for both The Star and Eagle, earned a Top 10 nod in Game Coverage. He broke down the strategy of the last play as the Wildcats lost to Texas in football.

Eldridge, who covers the Wichita State Shockers, earned a Long Features Top 10 for his story, ‘More than my Google search’: Former felon earns redemption in Wichita pro basketball.

The Eagle’s overall sports coverage at Kansas.com garnered Top 10 recognition in the Digital category. The Eagle also placed Top 10 in Event Coverage for its work around last year’s Sweet 16, and Eagle photographer Travis Heying placed Top 10 for both Action Photo and Feature Photo.

Within the industry, the annual APSE awards are considered by many to be sports journalism’s equivalent of the Emmys. Entries for the 2023 contest came from work produced from Jan. 1, 2023 to Dec. 31., 2023. Entries are judged each year by sports editors and writers from around the country.

All APSE awards for calendar year 2023 will be handed out at the organization’s annual summer conference, which this year is scheduled to take place in Charlotte in June.