SportsDesigner.com

Best of SD: Editors Choice I

It's over. Done. The people have spoken, and it's now time to reveal the Editors' Choice winners in the Best of Sports Design 2007. We'll kick it off today with five EC awards. Here's one final link to the categories and winners.

INFOGRAPHICS

Editors' Choice: Laura Stanton and Bonnie Berkowitz, Washington Post, Six Degrees of March Mayhem

This was a brutal category, commented by many as their favorite, and one that featured five finalists, all from either the Washington Post or Boston Globe. Far and away the best take on a "coaching tree" infographic takes it in close voting.

Here is the complete Editors' Choice voting:  Download InfographicsResults.pdf
Link to the finalists.

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COVER DESIGN WITH ADS

Editors' Choice: Michael Whitley, Vic Seper and Joe Morse, Los Angeles Times, Armed and Dangerous

This category grew exponentially in quantity and quality from a year ago, and a clean, organized page built around a ridiculously elegant illustration takes it.

Here is the complete Editors' Choice voting: Download CoverDesignAdsResults.pdf
Link to the finalists.

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BREAKING NEWS COVERS

Editors' Choice: Bonnie Berkowitz, Matt Rennie, Jon Wile and Patterson Clark, Washington Post, Everybody in the Pool

Tough category to pin down, because of the breadth of things that can fit into "breaking news," but a well-planned Selection Sunday illustration makes two Editors' Choice Awards so far for the Post.

Here is the complete Editors' Choice voting: Download BreakingNewsCoversResults.pdf
Link to the finalists.

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BREAKING NEWS INSIDE PAGES

Editors' Choice: Josh Crutchmer, Omaha World-Herald, Always an Outsider

Like the cover winner, this falls into the category of "breaking news we saw coming." We'll re-classify some categories next year to separate planned from unplanned, but with that said, this was another category that saw a big step up from a year ago. The winner was a back-page retrospective on Bill Callahan's Nebraska coaching career that we ran live when he was fired from the Huskers. Of course, when Callahan's troops gave up 76 points to Kansas, we sort of had a clue this was coming and I started working on this page. (No I didn't rig the contest, and when accused of it, my reply is: I hope Omaha wins 16 next year.)

Here is the complete Editors' Choice voting: Download BreakingNewsInsideResults.pdf
Link to the finalists.

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REDESIGNS

Editors' Choice: (tie) Tracy Collins, Bill Pliske, Luke Knox, Joey Kirk, Diane Petitti, Des Shoe, Arizona Republic: Heat Index; and Ben Vankat and Josh Crutchmer, Omaha World-Herald, College World Series Game Recaps

There were only three finalists in this category, and if there were any justice in the world, David Jack Browning's NL Capsules redesigns in Houston would have received one more vote, because the voting split was 36-36-35. Both of these winners also were named Awards of Excellence at SND29. In Arizona, a massive overhaul of Page 2 is a more than deserving winner. And Omaha's entry was an on-the-fly redesign of the previous year's College World Series game breakdown. Ben Vankat did the design and I did the graphics (which included typing in box scores of every game by hand, for the first time since college).

Here is the complete Editors' Choice voting: Download RedesignsResults.pdf
Link to the finalists.

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Congratulations to the Editors' Choice winners so far. Tomorrow, we'll reveal the EC Awards for Live Game Inside Pages,  Photo Pages/Posters, Special Section/Enterprise Inside Pages and Enterprise/Feature Centerpieces.

Best of SD 2007

The voting is over. The Editors' Choices have been made. Results will start to show up here Saturday and will drag out through the weekend and into early next week. Stay tuned.

Best of SD: LAST CALL

Today is the last day to vote in the Best of Sports Design 2007. If you have not, this is the last call. Seriously. Stop reading this and go VOTE! Click here to do just that. (If you were getting an error message yesterday, that has been corrected.)

Hey Howard

Don't you love it when somebody spurts out a crazy, funny idea at a planning meeting ... and then actually does it? Kudos to Seattle Times photog Rod Mar for this video, bonus to a five-part series about Sonics fans facing the grief of the possible loss of their team.

That's famed Seattle sports fan "Big Lo" doing a Michael Moore impression, raiding Starbucks headquarters.

Of contests and conventions

We'll keep contest voting open until 4 p.m. CDT Thursday. Click here to vote if you haven't yet.

If you haven't voted but you are getting a message telling you that "it looks like you have already voted," please send me an e-mail at jscrutchmer@yahoo.com and we shall remedy the problem.

And lastly, if you are in Denver for the annual ACES convention, you simply must stop by the 10:45 a.m. Thursday panel discussion on alternative story forms. The panelists are: Andy Bechtel, UNC-Chapel Hill; Sara Quinn, Poynter; Katie Schwing, Colorado Springs Gazette; and me. I will share my handout here.

Kansas takes 2008 NCAA tournament

Kansas wins the NCAA championship Monday night with a 75-68 win over Memphis in overtime, after a clutch three-pointer by the Jayhawks' Mario Chalmers in the waning seconds of regulation. Coach Bill Self calls it probably the biggest shot in Kansas history.

Both the San Antonio Express-News (top) and Kansas City Star used a reference to Danny Manning's "Miracles" of 20 years ago in the sports page headlines.

In Wichita, another miracle (page by Ryan Johnson).

Final two in San Antonio

Kansas plays Memphis tonight for the men's NCAA championship in basketball.
A few pages from the host-city's San Antonio Express-News (thanks to Josh Trudell):

Sunday's game cover, above.

Inside page deliciousness

From the Kansas City Star, Monday's trashy preview cover (thanks to Alan Burchardt):

... and Sunday game coverage, below.

More to come.