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| Red Smith Award | |
|---|---|
| Name | Red Smith Award |
| Awarded for | Sports journalism excellence |
| Presenter | Associated Press Sports Editors |
| Country | United States |
| Year | 1981 |
Red Smith Award The Red Smith Award is a lifetime achievement honor recognizing excellence in sportswriting and sports journalism presented by the Associated Press Sports Editors. Named for the sportswriter Red Smith of the New York Herald Tribune and the New York Times, the award acknowledges careers that shaped coverage of events such as the Super Bowl, the World Series, the Olympic Games, and the FIFA World Cup. Recipients include journalists and columnists from outlets like the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and ESPN.
The award was established in 1981 by the Associated Press Sports Editors to honor the legacy of Red Smith, whose work spanned the Boston Red Sox era, the New York Yankees dynasties, the rise of television broadcasting for Major League Baseball and the National Football League. Early winners included writers from the Chicago Tribune, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Detroit Free Press, and the Baltimore Sun, reflecting regional centers of sports coverage tied to franchises like the Chicago Cubs, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Detroit Lions. Over decades the prize paralleled transitions in media institutions such as the Knight Ridder chain, the consolidation represented by Gannett, and the emergence of cable networks including ESPN and Fox Sports. The award’s history intersects with major events covered by recipients: the 1969 World Series, the 1980 Winter Olympics, the 1994 Major League Baseball strike, and the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Selection is administered by the Associated Press Sports Editors board, composed of editors and leaders from organizations like the New York Post, the Miami Herald, the Boston Globe, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Candidates are evaluated for lifetime achievement in reporting, column writing, feature journalism, and investigative work covering entities such as Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, and international competitions like the Olympic Games and the UEFA Champions League. Nomination practices involve input from newsrooms at the Chicago Sun-Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Houston Chronicle, and digital outlets like Sports Illustrated and Bleacher Report. Criteria highlight influence on public understanding of events like the World Series, the Super Bowl, and the FIFA World Cup, as well as contributions to coverage of landmark controversies such as the Black Sox Scandal retrospectives or reporting on labor disputes like the NFL lockouts.
Recipients span print columnists, investigative reporters, and broadcasters affiliated with institutions including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Sports Illustrated. Notable newsroom homes for winners include the Baltimore Sun, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Kansas City Star, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Dallas Morning News, and the Arizona Republic. Awardees have chronicled events tied to teams such as the Green Bay Packers, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the San Francisco 49ers, the Boston Celtics, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the New York Knicks. Internationally oriented recipients reported on tournaments like the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA European Championship, and Wimbledon.
Prominent winners have included columnists from the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Boston Globe who wrote seminal pieces about figures like Muhammad Ali, Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, and Michael Jordan. Controversies around selections sometimes centered on editorial stances taken by recipients in coverage of labor disputes involving the Major League Baseball Players Association or policy debates involving the International Olympic Committee. Occasions of debate also arose when winners were affiliated with conglomerates such as Tribune Company or when recipients moved between institutions like CNN and ESPN. Ethical debates in sports journalism reflected in award discourse involved reporting on doping scandals covered in relation to Lance Armstrong and institutions like the World Anti-Doping Agency.
The award has influenced standards at news organizations including the New York Times Company, News Corporation, Gannett, and nonprofit models like the ProPublica approach to investigative sports reporting. It has helped elevate careers at publications such as the Chicago Tribune, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Los Angeles Times, and recognized coverage spanning the Super Bowl, the World Series, the Olympic Games, and the FIFA World Cup. The prize contributed to debates about the future of sports coverage across platforms from print outlets like the Boston Globe to cable channels like ESPN and digital sites like Bleacher Report, influencing journalism education at institutions including Columbia University and Syracuse University.
Category:American journalism awards