Deseret News writer Jody Genessy received a prestigious writing award from the Professional Basketball Writers Association during NBA All-Star Weekend. Genessy, who covers the Utah Jazz, earned Honorable Mention recognition in the Features category for a column he wrote about his experience at the 2016 All-Star Weekend in Toronto.
The judge's comments about Genessy's story, Kobe, Jimmer, ketchup chips and other fun All-Star Weekend memories: "The NBA of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s was full of mirth and merriment. You don’t get that feeling now. But this writer is both playful and insightful. He lightens things up in an era when the dreary recitation of semi-arcane statistics (Do I really care about PER?) is the currency. This writer deserves to be thanked. And honored."
The PBWA includes nearly 200 NBA writers, and this year's contest received more entries than ever before in the organization's history. Other contest winners were from ESPN, Sports Illustrated, the Associated Press, Yahoo.com's The Vertical, CBSSports.com, NBA.com, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The New York Daily News, The Miami Herald, Bleacher Report and SBNation.com.