Celebrating the best in sportswriting
This fall, the Center for Sports Communication and Media at Moody College of Communication marked the 10th iteration of the Dan Jenkins Medal for Excellence in Sportswriting at the Headliners Club in Austin, bringing together celebrated journalists and leaders from the world of sports. Since its launch in 2017, the Jenkins Medal has become a prominent national recognition of sportswriting that pairs rigorous reporting with distinctive storytelling.
The medal was established by Moody College to celebrate Dan Jenkins, the Fort Worth native whose voice shaped American sports journalism for generations.
“The idea behind the award is to make it the Heisman Trophy of sportswriting,” said Michael Butterworth, the director of the Moody College Center for Sports Communication and Media. “So, we wanted to make it the premier sportswriting award that’s granted.”
Jenkins began his career at the Fort Worth Press and Dallas Times Herald before joining Sports Illustrated in the 1960s, where he wrote more than 500 articles. He later became a longtime Golf Digest columnist and authored 23 books, including the novels “Semi-Tough,” “Dead Solid Perfect” and “Baja Oklahoma.”
Jenkins’ work chronicled the growth of sports in American culture while influencing generations of writers who followed. His honors included induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame, as well as the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame, Texas Sports Hall of Fame and Texas Golf Hall of Fame.
The Dan Jenkins Medal was introduced by Michael MacCambridge, the co-chair of the Jenkins Medal Jury, alongside Jenkins' daughter, Sally. When the medal was announced in March 2017, it included two categories: one recognizing lifetime achievement and another honoring the best sportswriting published during the previous calendar year. A jury of sports journalists selects the honorees.
In the years since, the list of recipients has reflected the depth and range of contemporary sports journalism. The inaugural Best Sportswriting medal went to Wright Thompson for his profile “The Secret History of Tiger Woods.” Thompson returned as a winner in 2025 for his expansive portrait of Caitlin Clark’s final season at Iowa, while Roy Blount Jr. received that year’s Lifetime Achievement honor.
The 2026 ceremony expanded the medal’s reach. Hallie Grossman and Jason Zengerle were named co-winners for Best Sportswriting, and longtime Washington Post columnist Thomas Boswell received the Lifetime Achievement medal.
“This year we were very excited about a few things; this being the 10th iteration of the award and the fact that we’ve added two new awards,” Butterworth said. “Up until this year, we’ve had just two medals, one medal for Best Sportswriting of the Year and the other for Lifetime Achievement. Now we’ve added Best Student Sportswriting and Best Sports Book.”
S.L. Price earned the inaugural Best Sports Book medal, while Lincoln Roch received the first Best Student Sportswriting medal. The new categories recognize the importance of cultivating its next generation of sportswriters.
The evening also honored Archie Manning with the Jenkins Medal Sports Legend award, recognizing a career that stretched from Ole Miss to the New Orleans Saints and a family legacy that has become part of football history. Manning joined MacCambridge for a conversation about his career and experiences watching the next generations of his family take up the game.
A decade in, the Jenkins Medal remains rooted in the qualities that made Jenkins’ work endure: voice, curiosity, authority and an understanding that sports can illuminate far more than a final score. By honoring established writers, standout work, books and emerging writers, the medal celebrates sportswriting’s history while helping shape its future.
