The Deseret News sports section has broken the ranks of the Top 10 -- the Associated Press Sports Editors' Top 10, that is.
The Deseret News was selected as one of the top 10 daily sports sections in the country in the 50,000 to 175,000 circulation division, as determined by recent judging in the annual APSE section contest. Winners were announced Thursday, with newspapers competing in three different circulation divisions.Other Top 10 daily sports sections honored in the same division were Akron Beacon Journal, Ann Arbor News, Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader, Newport News (Va.) Daily Press, Raleigh News and Observer, Record (Hackensack, N.J.), San Francisco Examiner, Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.) and Tacoma News Tribune.
Three years ago, the Deseret News was one of the 10 honorable mention winners in the same contest. Judging is based on overall presentation, content, writing and coverage for sports sections published Monday through Saturday (Sunday sections and special sections were evaluated in separate contests).
The Deseret News' winning entry included two date-specific editions required by contest rules -- one edition in May and the other in October. Two additional editions -- with dates selected by the participating papers -- included the Deseret News' next-day coverage of the University of Utah's narrow loss to Kentucky in the 1998 NCAA men's basketball championship game and a June edition packed with preview coverage of the 1998 NBA Finals between the Utah Jazz and the Chicago Bulls.