KC Star’s sports coverage earns four national Top 10 honors, including one for website

The Kansas City Star’s sports website was voted among the 10 best in the country by the Associated Press Sports Editors this week during the organization’s annual winter conference in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Competing in the top circulation category, KansasCity.com/sports was honored along with The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, ESPN.com, the Star Tribune (Minneapolis), the Miami Herald, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Los Angeles Times. Yahoo Sports and The Athletic were among sites in the top category that received honorable mention.

Sites were judged primarily for the quality and timeliness of stories that were posted during two multiple-month windows.

The Star won a total of four Top 10s in the 2019 APSE contest, including one for a special section that chronicled each of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ 50 touchdown passes in 2018. The Star’s Sunday print edition also received honorable mention.

“Great work by our staff from top to bottom again this year,” said Jeff Rosen, The Star’s assistant managing editor for sports. “It’s especially heartening to see them recognized for their efforts to bring our readers top-notch coverage daily as our industry continues to evolve.”

Sam McDowell and Vahe Gregorian placed in the breaking news category for a story that revealed late Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura’s estate was broke and the remainder of his contract had not been paid.

McDowell and Gregorian also placed as part of a project entry with Sam Mellinger and Brooke Pryor for a collection of stories about Mahomes heading into the 2019 season.

First through 10th place finishes for the breaking news and project categories will be announced later this year. The top 10 in the website and special section categories are not ranked.