Four multiple-winners claim firsts in Best Writing Contest

Four writers took first place in one category and placed in another in the U.S. Basketball Writers Association's annual best-writing contest.

John Feinstein took first place in the Game Story/Spot News category for "The Dream is the Same in Division III," a story about the Division III championship game written for the Washington Post. Feinstein also placed second in column writing for "A Ball, A Towel, A Ref's Memorable Gesture."

Reminders: • Send your nomination for the Rising Star Award to John Akers by Feb. 15 • Read the winning stories from the annual Best Writing Contest • USBWA member/award programs

John Akers of Basketball Times placed first in Enterprise-Investigative reporting for "Inside the Room: NCAA Tournament Selection Process," a historical look at the evolution of the NCAA Tournament selection process. Akers also placed third in Magazine Length Features.

Luke Winn of si.com and Tom Archdeacon of the Dayton Daily News both grabbed first- and fourth-place finishes.

Winn took first place in Column Writing for "Bob Knight's Tactical Brilliance," which examined Knight the teacher from a newly released set of coaching DVDs. Winn also finished fourth in Magazine Length Features. Archdeacon placed first in Moderate Length Features for "A Legend Returns to the Court of His Youth," a story about former Dayton basketball legend Dwight Anderson. Archdeacon also placed fourth in Column Writing.

Kevin Armstrong of si.com also took first place, in Magazine Length Features, for "The Ubiquitous Basketball Iconocast," on longtime basketball talent scout Tom Konchalski.

Other second-place finishers included Jason King of Yahoo! Sports for Moderate Length Features, Lew Freedman of Basketball Times Online for Enterprise-Investigative, David Teel of the Newport News Daily Press for Magazine Length Features and David Woods of the Indianapolis Star for Game Story/Spot News.

Third-place finishers included Scott Dochterman of the Cedar Rapids Gazette for Enterprise-Investigative, David Jones of the Harrisburg Patriot-News for Column Writing, Ken Davis of Basketball Times Online for Game Story/Spot News and Brett McMurphy of AOL Fanhouse for Moderate Length Features.

The fourth-place winners were Scott Powers of espnchicago.com for Enterprise-Investigative, Mike Waters of the Syracuse Post-Standard for Game Story/Spot News and Paul Klee of illinihq.com for Moderate Length Features.

Fifth-place finishers: Jack Styczynski of nytimes.com for Enterprise-Investigative Reporting, David Krider of Max Prep News for Magazine Length Features, John Clay of the Lexington Herald-Leader for Column Writering, Tom Noie of the South Bend Tribune for Game Story/Spot News and Kathy Orton of the Washington Post for Moderate Length Features.