The BWAA Is Proud To Announce Its 2023 Bernie Award Winners
Elliot Worsell (Boxing News) Is the Big Winner with Three First-Place Finishes for the 2023 BWAA Bernies
Boxing News Finishes in Top Three Positions
Eight Times in Six Categories
Elliot Worsell of Boxing News captured three first-place prizes for the 2023 Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) Bernies, Recognizing Excellence in Boxing Journalism. Worsell’s awards makes him and his publication the biggest winners.
Boxing News finished in the top three positions of first, second or third in six categories.
Worsell secured first place in the categories of Boxing Event Coverage, Boxing Feature (under 1,500 words) and Boxing Feature (over 1,500 words).
He also placed second in the Boxing Investigative Reporting category.
In the category of Boxing Event Coverage, Jimmy Tobin (Hannibal Boxing) finished second while Joseph Santoliquito (The Ring) finished third.
For the Boxing Column category, first place went to Jose Corpas (NYFight.com), second went to Donald Stradley (Donstradley.blogspot.com) and third went to Jimmy Tobin (Hannibal Boxing).
In the Boxing News Story category, Don Stradley was the winner as Greg Bishop (Sports Illustrated) came in second and Matt Christie (Boxing News) claimed third place.
For the Boxing Feature category (under 1,500 words), Jose Corpas finished second behind Worsell while Donald Stradley came in third.
In the Boxing Feature category (over 1,500 words), Jack Hirsch (Boxing News) and Norm Frauenheim (The Ring) finished in second and third place, respectively behind Worsell.
The Boxing Investigative Reporting category saw Thomas Hauser (Boxing News) capture first place, while Worsell finished second and Oliver Fennell (Boxing News) and Don Stradley tied for third.
The judges for the 2023 BWAA Bernies were: RON BORGES, (former) Boston Globe and Boston Herald and member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF); TOMMY DEAS, USA Today Sports Network; BERNARD FERNANDEZ (retired) Philadelphia Daily News, former president BWAA, member IBHOF; WALLACE MATTHEWS, Nat Fleischer Award winner, former BWAA President, member IBHOF; JAKE DONOVAN, BoxingScene, Senior Writer, ANTHONY CARTER PAIGE, (retired) WFAN Radio and former BWAA President.
The following is the complete listing of winners and the Honorable Mentions:
2023 BWAA BERNIES AWARD WINNERS
BOXING EVENT COVERAGE
First Place
ELLIOT WORSELL, “Work of Genius: Masterful Terence Crawford Shows Us That in Las Vegas Even ‘The Truth’ is Not the Truth,” Boxing News, July 29, 2023
Second Place
JIMMY TOBIN, “Enough is Not Enough: Naoya Inoue Annihilates Stephen
Fulton,” Hannibal Boxing, July 25, 2023
Third Place
JOSEPH SANTOLIQUITO, “Naoya Inoue Proves He is the World’s Best Pound for Pound by Stopping Stephen Fulton in Eight,” The Ring, July 25, 2023
Honorable Mention: Greg Bishop, Sports Illustrated; Matt Christie, Boxing News; Alan Dawson, Business Insider; Thomas Hauser, The Guardian; Dan Rafael, danrafael.substack.com; Don Stradley, Donstradley.blogspot.com; David Weinberg, 973ESPN.com
BOXING COLUMN
First Place
JOSE CORPAS, “Never in the Finals, the Unattached Fighter”
NYFights.com, June 30, 2023
Second Place
DON STRADLEY, “Nick Charles Hall of Famer,” Donstradley.blogspot.com, December 21, 2023
Third Place
JIMMY TOBIN, “Stopping Short of the End: On Saul Alvarez,” Hannibal Boxing, May 9, 2023
Honorable Mention: Matthew Aguilar, NYFights.com; Thomas Hauser, The Guardian; Keiran Mulvaney, ProBoxTV; Ryan O’Hara, NYFights.com; Eric Raskin, Ringside Seat; Joseph Santoliquito, The Ring; Elliot Worsell, Boxing News
BOXING NEWS STORY
First Place
DON STRADLEY, “Another Tainted Star in the IBHOF,” Donstradley.blogspot.com, December 31, 2023
Second Place
GREG BISHOP, “Roiman Villa is Fighting for Family in Career-Defining Bout with Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis,” Sports Illustrated, July 7, 2023
Third Place
MATT CHRISTIE, “A Man of Great and Rare Integrity,” Boxing News, February 16, 2023
Honorable Mention: Manouk Akopyan, BoxingScene.com; Thomas Hauser, Boxing News; Dan Rafael, danrafael.substack.com; Michael Rothstein, ESPN.com; David Weinberg, 973ESPN.com
BOXING FEATURE (Under 1,500 words)
First Place
ELLIOT WORSELL, “How to Lose: There are Many Ways to Lose in Boxing and Sometimes Losing Feels Like Winning,” Boxing News, November 23, 2023
Second Place
Third Place
DON STRADLEY, “Adieu, Boo Boo,” Donstradley.blog.spot.com, November 22, 2023
Honorable Mention: Matt Christie, Boxing News; Oliver Fennell, Boxing News; Norm Frauenheim, 15 Rounds; Thomas Hauser, The Guardian; Mark Kriegel, ESPN; Dan Rafael, danrafael.substack.com; Cliff Rold, BoxingScene.com; Michael Rothstein, ESPN.com; David Weinberg, 973ESPN.com
BOXING FEATURE (Over 1,500 words)
First Place
ELLIOT WORSELL, “The Intervention: Froch vs. Groves, 10 Years On,”
Boxing News, November 23, 2023
Second Place
JACK HIRSCH, “The Ultimate Survivor,” Boxing News, August 3, 2023
Third Place
NORM FRAUENHEIM, “David Benavidez: An Unlikely Journey from Unknown to Unbeaten,” The Ring, April 2023
Honorable Mention: Matthew Aguilar, NYFights.com; Jose Corpas, NYFights.com; Tris Dixon, Boxing News; Oliver Fennell, Boxing News; Josh Katzowitz, Forbes.com; Diego Morilla, RingTV.com; Kieran Mulvaney, ProBoxTV; Michael Rothstein, ESPN.com; Lewis Watson, Boxing News Magazine
BOXING INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
First Place
THOMAS HAUSER, “A 50-Point Primer on Boxing and Performance Enhancing Drugs,” Boxing News, September 19, 2023
Second Place
ELLIOT WORSELL, “I Am the Referee: An Investigation of the British Boxing Board of Control’s Process for Appointing New Referees,”
Boxing News, February 20, 2023
Third Place (Tie)
OLIVER FENNELL, “Man in the Middle: Ian John-Lewis Reflects in His Career as the Third Man in the Ring,” Boxing News, March 23, 2023
DON STRADLEY, “The Legend and the Lies,” Ring Magazine, September 2023
Honorable Mention: Hector Franco, NY Fights.com; Sean Nam, BoxingScene.com; Ryan O’Hara, NYFights.com; Michael Rothstein, ESPN.com
Tony Paige
Bernies Chair
