Two Soccer America jounalists and two newspaper writers were honored for the best articles of 1997 in the third annual National Soccer Coaches Association of America writing contest during the 51st annual NSCAA convention in Cincinnati, Ohio. SA Senior Editor Mike Woitalla won first place for a deadline/game story article for his piece titled “United States survives the Day of the Dead — Steve Sampson’s 10-man team finds a little gold with historic 0-0 tie in Mexico City.” Bob Luder of the Kansas City Star received the award for non-deadline/feature for his article “They’re having a Ball — Indoor soccer fans just won’t give up on the game they love.” First prize in the best column category went to Randy Beard of the Anderson (S.C.) Independent-Mail for his piece “Wilson finds energy to shine.” Soccer America Youth Soccer Letter Executive Editor Dan Woog took home the top award for the college division for his article “Big money floods new women’s programs — Full rides, huge travel budgets, stadiums becoming the standard in Title IX era.” Plaques were awarded to each of the four categorical top writers, as voted on by the English department at Baker University in Baldwin City, Kan.

Information for the Fourth NSCAA Writing Contest

Any story published during the 1998 calendar year will be eligible for the fourth annual contest. The deadline for submission will be Dec. 4, 1998. Winners will receive plaques and be recognized at the 52nd NSCAA convention in Philadelphia, Pa. The work of any accredited writer for a daily or weekly newspaper or weekly or monthly magazine will be considered. Freelance writers who are published in newspapers or magazines can submit articles on their own. Stories must be published for consideration. The categories will again be: 1) Deadline/game stories: including newspaper or magazine game stories and breaking news such as a new coach being hired; 2) Non-deadline/feature stories: including trend feature or analysis pieces; 3) Best column; 4) College division for weekly or daily college newspapers or coverage of strictly college pieces. The English department at Baker University will again judge the entries. For submission, please forward four copies of each article to the NSCAA National Office, Attn: Writing Contest, 6700 Squibb Road, Suite 215, Mission KS 66202.