Best of SD: Winners (Round 2)

Here we go with the largest categories, the ones with the most votes cast and some of the best work you're going to see. But first, here's one final link to all the finalists in the Best of Sports Design 2006. Tomorrow night, we reveal the Sports Designer of the Year.

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Infographics
Winner: Todd Bayha and Steve Spencer, Columbus Dispatch, Uniforms

In a category that featured six finalists, the Dispatch carried it, with 30 percent of 150 votes, followed by a World Cup Preview page from Dylan McKinley of the Arizona Daily Star, which had 23 percent, and an infographic page on Len Barker by Emmet Smith and Co. at the Plain Dealer.

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Enterprise/Feature Centerpiece
Winner: Tim Parks, Omaha World-Herald, Hangover Relief

This was a conflict of interest for me in the panel voting, but I can share some insight: It's what happens when you're in a planning meeting, toss an idea out on the table, and then say, "What the hell? That might be crazy enough to work." Literally, it was tossed out almost in desperation, as we struggled for a CP late this particular week... Parks shepherded this presentation, but it was photo editor Craig Chandler who brought in a big clear beaker and shot the antacid tablets. (The only Photoshop work on this whole package was getting the logos on the pills, which Parks knocked out.) The seven-finalist category had 210 votes cast, and in the end, Parks carried it rather handily (27 percent of the vote).

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Live Game Cover
Winner: Tim Ball, San Jose Mercury-News, Gone

The day I saw this page, I sent TBall an e-mail calling it the best live game cover I'd ever seen, and home slices, I've seen a few. Well, I actually heard a few folks who were anything but crazy over this, but in the voting, in a large category with six excellent finalists, Tim Ball went '89 49ers on everyone. Nearly 200 votes were cast and this page won over the next-closest finisher by 32 votes. TBall's page finished with 42 percent of the votes.

The best live game cover ever? Oh. Probably not. Is that even a call that could EVER be made? But the voting makes it clear this page at least gets to be in that discussion. Maybe its best quality is that it may never be duplicated. Good luck trying this one at home.

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Special Section Cover
Winner: Todd Bayha, Columbus Dispatch, Football Preview

This was the largest category (79 entries), and we had five finalists that very easily could have gotten an AOE or better in Syracuse, and it came down to the last hour of voting. With just under 200 votes cast, Bayha's masterpiece just edged out Tiffany Pease, then of the Charlotte Observer, and her real brackets on Selection Sunday, which just finished ahead of Brian Gross' NFL preview front in Boston. Bayha's used to this by now, but he carried a stellar category, which had stellar finalists.

Congratulations to all the winners. (I left out some redesign work by Harrison Goodman in the "best of the rest" catchall yesterday. My apologies) ... We'll wrap it up Thursday night with one more award and some parting thoughts. ... Until then ...