Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: The (Massillon) Independent Entry Title: Competitive balance in Ohio series Entry Credit: Chris Easterling Judge Comment: Competitive balance is always an issue in sports and one that gets people talking. This is an important issue to explore. This is absolutely everything a sports enterprise should be: a great umbrella idea, broken down into smaller stories and then well-researched and well-written. This hits all of those notes and does a great job exploring all angles of the issue to really give readers an in-depth look at the issue.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: The (Fremont) News-Messenger Entry Title: "Fremont Pro Wrestler Readies for Final Match" Entry Credit: Craig Shoup Judge Comment: This is just a fun read, an off-the-beaten path kind of story that’s entertaining and more than likely leaves readers with something they had no idea about before.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: The Marion Star Entry Title: Spring sports and COVID Entry Credit: Rob McCurdy Judge Comment: Every community in the nation was impacted in some way by the COVID-19 pandemic and sports was a big part of that. This series does a nice job exploring not only sports, but the human side of sports and the athletes who were left without seasons and practices and games because of the virus.
