Associated Press Sports Editors, SC Press Association honors The Herald’s 2021 coverage

The Herald took home some hardware earlier this month.

The newspaper based in Rock Hill that captures life in York, Chester and Lancaster counties received 14 awards from state and national agencies during the 2021 awards season. The Herald earned 10 honors from the South Carolina Press Association and four from the Associated Press Sports Editors group.

Former Herald sports editor Bret McCormick was recognized for his Return Man series. The eight-podcast-episode, seven-story project — one that unearthed the fullest available account of the fascinating life and tragic death of Lancaster native and Super Bowl winner Jim “Butch” Duncan — notched a Top-10 finish in the APSE’s Investigative category. McCormick’s work landed The Herald in the same company as some of the most prestigious publications in the world, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, The Athletic and others.

McCormick’s Return Man project also earned a second-place finish in the SCPA’s Series of Articles category.

Herald sports editor/reporter Alex Zietlow’s story on an eighth grader from Indian Land winning a high school golf state championship earned a Top-10 finish in the APSE’s Division D Short Feature category. Zietlow also saw an APSE Top-10 placement in Beat Writing for a collection of work covering Winthrop men’s basketball — as well as a first-place finish in Education Beat Reporting, a first-place finish in Sports Enterprise Writing and a second-place finish in Sports Feature Writing in the SCPA news contest.

Herald law enforcement and news reporter Andrew Dys earned a top-10 finish in the APSE’s Division D Breaking News category for his first of many stories after the April mass shooting in Rock Hill involving ex-NFL player Phillip Adams. He also earned a third-place finish in the SCPA’s Breaking News category for one of several stories he wrote in the aftermath of the controversial arrest of Rock Hill resident Travis Price.

Longtime Herald sports writer Sam Copeland earned a first-place finish in Sports Feature Writing in the SCPA news contest. He did so for his feature on Fort Mill’s Gordon Owino, an 8-year-old whose perseverance through congenital heart disease helped make him the Dixie Youth World Series champion and inspiration he is today.

Herald photographer and general assignment reporter Tracy Kimball saw three second-place finishes at the SCPA awards: one in the General News Photo category, one in the News Video category and one in the Feature Video category.

And Brian Wilmer, a regular contributor to The Herald’s sports department, earned a second-place finish in the Spot Sports Story category for his story that — on a tight deadline — captured the emotion and impact of the Rock Hill High football team’s September 2021 win over Clover.

SCPA Awards

All media outlets are sorted into different divisions based on subscriber numbers. You can view the entire list of award-winners on the SCPA website.

• Sports Feature Story — First Place — Sam Copeland

• Education Beat Reporting — First Place — Alex Zietlow

• Sports Enterprise Reporting — First Place — Alex Zietlow

• General News Photo — Second Place — Tracy Kimball

• News Video — Second Place — Tracy Kimball

• Feature Video — Second Place — Tracy Kimball

• Series of Articles — Second Place — Bret McCormick

• Spot Sports Story — Second Place — Brian Wilmer

• Sports Feature Story — Second Place — Alex Zietlow

• Breaking News Reporting — Third Place — Andrew Dys

APSE Awards

All media outlets are sorted into different divisions based on subscriber numbers. You can view all the winners of the APSE writing contest on the group’s website.

The top-10 lists below were released March 4. The final rankings will be announced in April, per the APSE group.

▪ INVESTIGATIVE: Bret McCormick, for his investigative project on the life and death of Jim “Butch” Duncan

▪ BEAT WRITING: Alex Zietlow, for his coverage of Winthrop University

▪ BREAKING NEWS: Andrew Dys, for his story on a mass shooting involving ex-NFL player Phillip Adams

▪ SHORT FEATURE: Alex Zietlow, for his story on an eighth-grader winning a golf state championship

Alex Zietlow

The Herald

Alex Zietlow writes about sports and the ways in which they intersect with life in York, Chester and Lancaster counties for The Herald, where he has been an editor and reporter since August 2019. Zietlow has won nine S.C. Press Association awards in his career, including First Place finishes in Feature Writing, Sports Enterprise Writing and Education Beat Reporting. He also received two Top-10 awards in the 2021 APSE writing contest and was nominated for the 2022 U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s Rising Star award for his coverage of the Winthrop men’s basketball team.