The Los Angeles Times sports staff earned the prestigious Associated Press Sports Editors Grand Slam honors for the third consecutive year.
The Times is the only media outlet to score three times in the best-in-show category, joining 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 overall excellence in video recognition.
“Congratulations to the sports staff and those in the newsroom who are working with us on this incredible continued streak of excellence,” said assistant editor-in-chief for sports Iliana Limón Romero. “This isn’t the product of a few brilliant projects — it’s the result of hard work every day to earn our audience’s time and attention. If we focus on that, we will be the leaders in our industry and well-deserved awards will follow.”
This year’s Grand Slam Award recognized media outlets that were among the top 10 in the following categories: print portfolio, online, event coverage and projects.
Jorge Castillo placed in the top 10 in the feature-length and short-film categories for his profiles of Dodgers pitcher Julio Urías and mariachis at Dodger Stadium.
Bill Plaschke made the top 10 for columns paying tribute to Vin Scully, profiling lost USC Heisman winner Charles White, commenting on the Dodgers’ 2022 playoff elimination, and criticizing the Mater Dei legacy. football program following allegations of hazing. It was Plaschke’s 20th top-10 finish in the column category during his career and the 11th consecutive year he had been recognized.
Ben Bolch repeated as a short feature winner for his take on UCLA that reversed 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 on the Dodgers’ elimination from the 2022 playoffs. David Wharton, Mark E. Potts, Kent Nishimura, Li Anne Liew and Alison Sneag finished in the top 10 for projects for their take on the Savannah Bananas, while Potts, Wharton and Erik Himmelsbach-Weinstein achieved overall 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.