SPORTS

Daily Advertiser writers Tim Buckley, Koki Riley honored in Super Bowl of journalism contests

Phil Kaplan
Lafayette Daily Advertiser

The USA TODAY Network – Louisiana was honored with eight awards in the Super Bowl of sports journalism contests, including four of them for Tim Buckley and a coveted beat writing honor for Koki Riley. 

Three of the Network’s news organizations — the Daily Advertiser, Houma Today and the News-Star  — were recognized for work published in 2021 during the annual Associated Press Sports Editors contest.

Sports editors and journalists throughout the country voted on the writing, website and newspaper awards.  

The order of finish will be announced in April.

Tim Buckley

Buckley, a veteran writer for the Advertiser, earned top 10 in event coverage, explanatory, game story and short feature in Division D, the smallest category based on newspaper circulation or digital readership size. 

The event coverage was a submission of content that took place Nov. 28 on the departure of Louisiana football coach Billy Napier to Florida.  

In explanatory writing, Buckley's story on why Napier had previously turned down SEC offers was selected.

Buckley was honored for his game story on the debut of LSU women's coach Kim Mulkey and in short feature on how UL softball coach Gerry Glasco dealt with the death of his mother during the season.

Koki Riley. Wednesday, June 2, 2021.

Riley, who started working for the Advertiser in May covering high school athletics in Lafayette and recruiting in Louisiana, won for his collection of stories on his beat.  Included was coverage of Walker Howard's recruitment, Westgate football, Arch Manning, Howard's relationship with Jake Delhomme, and the bond between brothers Travis and Trevor Etienne.

High school reporter Chris Singleton of Houma Today and former LSU beat writer Glenn Guilbeau had top 10 work in breaking news. Singleton's story was on the sudden death of Ellender girls basketball coach Kenneth Dixon. Guilbeau was for his coverage of LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri's retirement announcement.    

Former News-Star sports writer Cory Diaz was honored in game story on Louisiana Tech baseball's win in 12 innings over UTSA in the Conference USA Tournament.

Phil Kaplan is an assistant sports editor for South Region of the USA Today Network. Contact him at pkaplan@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @philkaplan.