Times Sports earns third consecutive APSE grand slam, nine top-10 honors

The Los Angeles Times sports staff earned prestigious Associated Press Sports Editors Grand Slam honors for the third consecutive year.

The Times is the only media outlet to three-peat in the best-in-show category and joins the New York Times and Washington Post as the only grand slam winner for work produced in 2022.

The Los Angles Times staff also had nine top-10 finishes and earned general excellence in video recognition.

“Congratulations to the sports staff and those in the newsroom who collaborate with us for this incredible sustained run of excellence,” assistant managing editor for sports Iliana Limón Romero said. “This is not the product of a few stellar projects — it’s the result of working hard daily to earn our audience’s time and attention. When we focus on that, we are the leaders in our industry and the well-deserved awards follow.”

This year’s grand slam award recognized media outlets that placed among the top 10 in the following categories: print portfolio, online, event coverage and projects.

Jorge Castillo placed in the top 10 in long and short feature categories for his profiles of Dodgers pitcher Julio Urías and mariachis at Dodger Stadium.

Bill Plaschke placed in the top 10 for columns that included a tribute to Vin Scully, a profile of lost USC Heisman winner Charles White, commentary on the Dodgers’ 2022 playoff elimination and critique of the Mater Dei football program following hazing allegations. It was Plaschke’s 20th top-10 finish in the column category during his career and the 11th consecutive year he was recognized.

Ben Bolch repeated as a short-feature winner for his look at UCLA running back Zach Charbonnet’s unique bond with his special-needs sister.

Castillo, Jack Harris, Dylan Hernández, Bill Shaikin and Houston Mitchell placed in the top 10 for event coverage following their work covering the Dodgers’ elimation from the 2022 playoffs. David Wharton, Mark E. Potts, Kent Nishimura, Li Anne Liew and Alison Sneag placed in the top 10 for projects for their look at the Savannah Bananas, while Potts, Wharton and Erik Himmelsbach-Weinstein earned general excellence in video recognition for their video coverage of the Bananas.

The top-10 rankings for writing categories will be released at a later date ahead of the APSE convention in Las Vegas scheduled for July.