The nominees for the 2025 award for best sportswriting published in the previous calendar year are (in alphabetical order by last name):

• Michael Bamberger, His Death on a Golf Course Is Inexplicable. His 25 Years of Life Are an Inspiration, Golf, Dec. 28, 2024
• Howard Bryant, A Racial Slur and a Fort Myers Baseball Team Torn Apart ESPN, April 23, 2024
• Brian Burnsed, After Amen: Sam Bennett Has Learned in the Last Year That Life, and Golf, Are Never Simple, Sports Illustrated, March 2024
• Tommy Craggs, Sports Betting is Legal, and Sportswriting Might Never Recover, Bloomberg Businessweek, August 16, 2024
• Ryan Hockensmith, The Underdog Life of Josh Butler, ESPN, December 9, 2024
• Laura Killingbeck, Into the Wind, Bicycling, May 22, 2024
• Jake May, In Hospice Care with Electric Blue Hair. And Dreams of a Detroit Lions Super Bowl, mlive.com, January 27, 2024
• Dan Moore, How to Start a Professional Sports Team, Win Games, and Save the Town, The Ringer, August 13, 2024
• Marcus Thompson II, At the Olympics, South Sudan Challenged NBA Living Legends, The Athletic, August 1, 2024
• Wright Thompson, Caitlin Clark and Iowa Find Peace in the Process, ESPN, March 20, 2024
• Kate Wagner, Behind F1’s Velvet Curtain , Escape Collective, March 8, 2024
• Dave Wilson, Barry Switzer, 'The King' of Norman, Is Still Unapologetically Himself at 87, ESPN, Oct. 9, 2024

The nominees for the 2024 award for best sportswriting published in the previous calendar year are (in alphabetical order by last name):

• Andrea Adelson, A Shattered Family Forgives Phillies Pitcher Andrew Bellatti, ESPN.com, August 20, 2023
• Roberto Jose Andrade Franco, The Cowboys Conflict: The Cost of Rooting for America's Team, ESPN.com, January 16, 2023
• Brian Burnsed, They’re the Toughest of the Tough, But When Their NFL Teammates Started Dying, These Players Grew Afraid, SInow.com, January 31, 2023
• Matt Dollinger, Bob Knight Was Larger Than Life in Indiana. He Still Is, TheRinger.com, November 2, 2023
• Tyler Dunne, “I’m Still Alive: The Zay Jones Story, for GoLong.com, June 23, 2023
• Mirin Fader, Greg Oden’s Long Walk Home, for The Ringer.com, Mar 8, 2023
• Danny Heifetz, The NFL and Amazon Are Coming for Black Friday… and Your Holiday Spending, for TheRinger.com, Nov. 21, 2023
• Sally Jenkins, Bitter Rivals. Beloved Friends. Survivors, for The Washington Post, June 3, 2023
• Diane Mehta, Epiphany at the Y, for Virginia Quarterly Review, Spring/Summer 2023
• Dan Moore, The Long, Sad Story of the Stealing of the Oakland A's, for TheRinger.com, June 21, 2023
• Marcus Thompson II, Chris Paul, a trip to San Quentin, and a Window into What He Brings to the Warriors, for TheAthletic.com, October 12,2023
• Jessica Wilkerson, Lady Vols Country, for Oxford American, Summer 2023

The nominees for the 2023 award for best sportswriting published in the previous calendar year are (in alphabetical order by last name):

• Roberto José Andrade Franco, ‘She made us happy': The all-star dreams of Uvalde's biggest José Altuve fan for ESPN.com, July 27, 2022
• Kent Babb, Hugh Freeze is the latest character in Auburn’s football soap opera for The Washington Post, December 7, 2022
• Brian Burnsed, Life After 7'6": Shawn Bradley, paralyzed in a bike crash, knows ‘It’ll never be the same’ for Sports Illustrated, January 12 2022
• Margie Cullen and Anne Marshall-Chalmers, Is high school running in need of a reckoning? for Runner’s World, November 18, 2022
• Mirin Fader, The many dimensions of DeMar DeRozan for The Ringer, February 18, 2022
• Wilton Jackson, She wanted a scholarship. Now she's the face of women's college basketball for Sports Illustrated, February 17, 2022
• Tom Junod and Paula Lavigne, Untold for ESPN.com, April 11, 2022
• Dan Robson, The quiet life and the sad death of the 'Miracle on Ice' team's Mark Pavelich for The Athletic February 2, 2022
• Mike Sielski, Before Kobe ... it was Sultan for The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 26, 2022
• Grant Wahl, The Qatar chronicles, part I for Futbol with Grant Wahl, Substack, September15, 2022
• Michael Weinreb, Complicity and deflection at the LIV Golf traveling circus for The Ringer, July 28, 2022
• Seth Wickersham, Andrew Luck finally reveals why he walked away from the NFL for ESPN.com, December 6, 2022

The nominees for the 2022 award for best sportswriting published in the previous calendar year are (in alphabetical order by last name):

• Sam Anderson, “Kevin Durant and (Possibly) the Greatest Basketball Team of All Time,” June 2, 2021, New York Times
• Kent Babb, “After the Violence in Football City, USA,” May 17, 2021, Washington Post
• Katie Barnes, “The Power of Layshia Clarendon,” June 24, 2021, ESPN.com
• Camonghne Felix, “Simone Biles Chose Herself,” September 27, 2021, The Cut,
• Thomas Fuller, “Underdog No More, a Deaf Football Team Takes California by Storm,” November 15, 2021, New York Times
• Sally Jenkins, “Nobody Believes Urban Meyer. That’s Why He’s Failing,” December 14, 2021, Washington Post
• Caoimhe O’Neill, “This Is What You Endure Watching England as a Woman,” July 14, 2021, The Athletic
• Jeff Passan, “San Francisco Giants Outfield Drew Robinson’s Remarkable Second Act,” May 11, 2021, ESPN.com
• Steve Politi, “The Search for New Jersey’s Lost Basketball Legend,” May 19, 2021, NJ.com,
• Louisa Thomas, “Hou Yifan and the Wait for Chess’s First Woman World Champion,” July 26, 2021, The New Yorker
• Don Van Natta, Jr. and Seth Wickersham, “The Inside Story of How the NFL Got a 17th Game, from Union Boss DeMaurice Smith,” February 23, 2021, ESPN.com,
• Wufei Yu and Will Ford, “172 Runners Started This Ultramarathon. 21 of Them Never Came Back,” October 15, 2021, Runner’s World

The nominees for the 2021 award for best sportswriting published in the previous calendar year are (in alphabetical order by last name):

• Howard Bryant, “Police, Protest, Pandemic and the End of the 9/11 Era,” ESPN.com – September 29, 2020
• Kim Cross, “What Happens When Two Strangers Meet,” Bicycling – March 20, 2020
• Allison Glock, “Walk, Run or Wheelbarrow: We Moved our Bodies Forward during the Pandemic,” ESPNw.com – December 31, 2020
• Michael Graff, “Hook Shot Charlie is Spreading Hope throughout Charlotte,” Axios.con – February 6, 2020
• Mitchell S. Jackson, “Twelve Minutes and a Life,” Runner’s World – June 18, 2020
• Tom Junod, “The Hero of Goodall Park: Inside a True-Crime Drama 50 Years in the Making,” ESPN.com – July 7, 2020
• Brendan I. Koerner, “The Cheating Scandal That Ripped the Poker World Apart,” Wired – September 21, 2020
• Joon Lee, “Inside the Rise of MLB’s Ivy League Culture,” ESPN.com – June 3, 2020
• Ryan McGee, “The Confederate Flag is Finally Gone at NASCAR Races, and I Won’t Miss It for a Second,” ESPN.com – June 10, 2020
• Maggie Mertens, “This Woman Surfed the Biggest Wave of the Year: Here’s Why You Probably Haven’t Heard about It,” The Atlantic – September 12, 2020
• Rory Smith, “The Most Human of Immortals,” New York Times – November 25, 2020
• Tom Verducci, “Love, Loss and Baseball: Letters from the Hub, Chapters I-V,” Sports Illustrated – June 22, 2020

The nominees for the 2020 award for best sportswriting published in the previous calendar year are (in alphabetical order by last name):

• Roberto José Andrade Franco, As the Border Bled, Juárez Watched the Game It Waited Nine Years For, published by Deadspin.com on August 7. 2019
• Karen Crouse, Gracie Gold’s Battle for Olympic Glory Ended in a Fight to Save Herself, published by The New York Times on January 25, 2019
• Scott Eden, How Former Ref Tim Donaghy Conspired to Fix NBA Games, published by ESPN.com on February 19, 2019
• Mirin Fader, The Life of LaMelo, Bleacher Report, November 19, 2019
• Peter Flax, Robyn Hightman Found a Life on Bikes. In an Instant It Was Gone, Bicycling.com, September 5, 2019
• Tim Keown, After Devastating Fires, Paradise Football Team Gives a Community Hope, ESPN.com, September 10, 2019
• Elizabeth Merrill, Whatever Happened to Villanova Basketball Star Shelly Pennefather? ‘So I Made This Deal with God, ESPN.com, August 2, 2019
• Brian Phillip, The Two Sides of Diego Maradona, TheRinger.com, October 1, 2019
• Steve Politi, He Told a Kid to Slide. Then He Got Sued, NJ.com,November 12, 2019
• William Rhoden, Kaepernick Called an Audible and Beat the NFL at Its Game, TheUndefeated.com, November 18, 2019
• Jenny Vrentas, , Sports Illustrated, December 9, 2019
• Seth Wickersham, The Clash of the Cleveland Browns: How Hue Jackson, Jimmy Haslam and Baker Mayfield Collided, ESPN.com, January 24, 2019

The nominees for the 2019 award for best sportswriting published in the previous calendar year are (in alphabetical order by last name):

• Greg Bishop, The Valley of Darkness, Sports Illustrated, April 13, 2018
• Heather Dinich, Adam Rittenberg and Tom VanHaaren, The Inside Story of a Toxic Culture at Maryland Football, published by EPSN.com on August 10, 2018
• Ted Jackson The Search for Jackie Wallace , New Orleans Times Picayune/NOLA Media, on Sept. 7, 2018
• Lee Jenkins, Kevin Durant and the Dagger That Foreshadowed the Broom, Sports Illustrated, June 12, 2018
• Jere Longman, Watching the World Cup in A War Zone, Where Every Goal Matters, The New York Times, June 15, 2018
• Juliet Macur, Suicides, Drug Addiction and High School Football , The New York Times, March 8, 2018
• Dave Sheinin, A Lifelong Dream Washed Away, Washington Post, August 30, 2018
• Danyel Smith, Most dominant athlete of 2018: Simone Biles, TheUndefeated.com, December 11, 2018
• Sarah Spain, Runs in the Family , ESPN.com, September 2, 2018
• Katie Strang, Rachael Denhollander, the Woman Who Brought Larry Nassar to Justice , TheAthletic.com, August 26, 2018
• Andy Staples, It Takes Tua , Sports Illustrated, January 15, 2018
• Seth Wickersham, For Kraft, Brady and Belichick, is this the beginning of the end?, ESPN.com, January 5, 2018

The nominees for the 2018 award for best sportswriting published in the previous calendar year are (in alphabetical order by last name):

• Chris Balland, You Can’t Give In,Sports Illustrated, April 6, 2017
• Sam Borden, Eternal Champions, E:60, ESPN.com, June 8, 2017
• John Branch, The Awakening of Colin Kaepernick, The New York Times, Sept. 7, 2017
• Rembert Browne, Colin Kaepernick Has a Job, B-R Mag, BleacherReport.com, Sept. 12, 2017
• Chuck Culpepper, Two racehorses, both male, ‘fell in love’ and were inseparable. Until tragedy did it for them, The Washington Post, Dec. 25, 2017
• Lee Jenkins, Don’t Try to Change Jimmy Butler, Sports Illustrated, Oct. 10, 2017
• Mina Kimes, The Search for Aaron Rodgers, ESPN The Magazine  August 30, 2017
• Michael Rosenberg, Truth Teller, Sports Illustrated, Dec. 11, 2017
• Alexandra Starr, Pushing the Limit, Harper’s Magazine, November 2017
• Louisa Thomas, Nick Krygios, The Reluctant Rising Star of Tennis, The New Yorker, July 10 & 17, 2017
• Tisha Thompson, I just wanted to survive, ESPN.com, 29 June 2017
• Don Van Natta and Seth Wickersham, NFL owners struggled to retain control after Trump's attacks, rise of player protests, ESPN.com, Oct. 1, 2017

The nominees for the 2018 award for best sportswriting published in the previous calendar year are (in alphabetical order by last name):

• Bruce Arthur, Day of Contrast at the Rio Olympics, Toronto Star, Aug. 16, 2016
• Chris Ballard, What Happened to Robert Swift?, Sports Illustrated, Sept. 21, 2016
• Dan Barry, Fight: Two men entered the ring for their first professional fight. Then something went wrong, The New York Times, March 27, 2016
• Stayton Bonner, Bobby Gunn, Champion of the Underworld, Men’s Journal, Apr. 2016
• John Branch, Tragedy Made Steve Kerr See the World beyond the Court, The New York Times, Dec. 22, 2016
• Spencer Hall, Do You Really Want to Know What It Takes to Beat Alabama? SB Nation, Jan. 12, 2016
• Jay Caspian Kang, The Unbearable Whiteness of Baseball, The New York Times, April 6, 2016
• Mina Kimes, The Art of Letting Go, ESPN The Magazine, Oct. 4, 2016
• Drew Magary, We Need to Talk about Ezekiel Elliott, GQ.com, Dec. 19, 2016
• Terrance McCoy, The Best African American Figure Skater in History Is Now Bankrupt and Living in a Trailer, Washington Post, Feb. 26, 2016
• Bill Plaschke, He Has Always Been There for Fans, and Now Writer Joe Resnick Receives Honors He Earned, Los Angeles Times, Nov. 20, 2016
• Eli Saslow, The Hardest Choice Demaryius Thomas’ Mom Will Make, EPSN The Magazine, Feb. 1, 2016
• Wright Thompson, The Secret History of Tiger Woods, ESPN The Magazine, May 9, 2016