Center for Sports Communication & Media

Thompson II is a lead columnist at The Athletic, covering Bay Area pro sports. He is the author of bestsellers Golden: The Miraculous Rise of Steph Curry, KD: Kevin Durant’s Relentless Pursuit to Be the Greatest and Dynasties: The 10 G.O.A.T. Teams That Changed the NBA Forever.

"At the Olympics, South Sudan Challenged NBA Living Legends. But the Dream Is Just Beginning" (from @TheAthletic) is the second Jenkins Medal/Best Sportswriting nomination for @ThompsonScribe. READ IT: www.nytimes.com/athletic/567...

May is the chief photojournalist at The Flint Journal and MLive, who has been committed to telling community stories in his backyard since 2003. Among other distinctions, May has been named the Michigan Press Photographers Association's Photographer of the Year five times.

Plenty of pro sports franchises have left their fans pining for success, but the Detroit Lions have been a "special" kind of bad. Given their recent turn of circumstances, bring on the hope. Jake May has a great story of a true fan. READ IT: www.mlive.com/news/flint/2...

The through line in Moore’s writing is Northern California with a healthy dose of pro baseball in Oakland (Athletics or otherwise). His piece nominated for the 2024 Jenkins Medal was a definitive chronicle the A’s and their fans. Portfolio and clips at www.danmoorewriter.com

By @DmoWriter "After the A’s announced they were leaving Oakland, a pair of lifelong fans set out to do something audacious: start a beloved pro baseball team of their own. Remarkably, they pulled it off. Now the Oakland Ballers need to survive." READ IT: www.theringer.com/2024/08/13/m...

Killingbeck documents her travels, insights and experiences on laurakillingbeck.com and through her email newsletter. She's been on the road in some form or fashion since she turned 18. "I wanted to understand the world from the inside out. I wanted to experience everything."

"Into the Wind" isn't your garden-variety sports story. For author Laura Killingbeck, the field of play is life and she is the ball. "In one supercharged moment on a bike, she discovered the power of her body in a way that finally made sense." READ IT: www.bicycling.com/rides/a60502...

Hockensmith loves stories that feature underdogs or overcoming adversity. He is a survivor of bacterial meningitis, which caused him to have amputations on both feet. During his 20-plus years at ESPN, he has emerged as a proud advocate for coverage of those with disabilities and addiction issues.

After his parents died in 2019, Josh Butler went viral for escorting his dogs onto the field for Michigan State's senior day. Now, the Mesquite native is proving his worth in the NFL with the hometown Dallas Cowboys, as Ryan Hockensmith describes. READ IT: www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/...

Craggs has worked as editor and writer for many outlets, most recently with HBO’s Game Theory With Bomani Jones. Prior to that: Mother Jones, Gawker Media and Deadspin. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post and New Republic. More: tommycraggs.com.

How does sportswriting change as fans become more interested in wagers & prop bets than traditional win & losses? @tcraggs22.bsky.social‬ profiles Chad Millman, chief content officer of The Action Network, previously editor-in-chief at ESPN The Magazine. READ IT: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature....

Burnsed has been a Contributing Writer for Sports Illustrated since 2017. Other credits include BusinessWeek, U.S. News & World Report, the NCAA's magazine and Turner Sports. His work was included in The Year's Best Sports Writing in 2015, 2016, 2023 and 2024. More: www.brianburnsed.com.

Brian Burnsed profiles golfer Sam Bennett, who became a star at the 2023 Masters while trying to overcome his father's death. The subsequent year proved not to have been as smooth as his made-for-TV Augusta narrative wanted. READ IT: www.si.com/golf/sam-ben...

Bryant has been a Senior Writer for ESPN since 2007 and has served as the sports correspondent for NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday since 2006. His most recent book is Rickey: The Life and Legend of an American Original (Mariner Books, 2022). More info at howardbryantbooks.com.

Howard Bryant chronicles the "simmering fractures within the Fort Myers (FL) baseball community" which resulted in the collapse of a high school baseball team amid racial invective and two federal discrimination lawsuits. READ IT: www.espn.com/espn/story/_...

Bamberger has written for golf.com since 2017. He wrote for Sports Illustrated for some 22 years before that. His work has appeared in three editions of Best American Sportswriting. His latest book is The Playing Lesson: A Duffer's Year Among the Pros.

Michael Bamberger offers a heart-wrenching profile of Filip Krüeger, a good athlete, amiable chap and otherwise regular dude, out for a round of golf with this friends when fate intervened. Published in GOLF.com: golf.com/news/feature...

We're pleased to present the Best Sportswriting nominees for the 2025 Dan Jenkins Medal for Excellence in Sportswriting. Get article links and all the details at jenkinsmedal.com.

Join us, won't you? No better occasion to celebrate the sportswriter's craft as exemplified by His Ownself, Dan Jenkins. The Jenkins Medal Awards Dinner will be on Sept. 26 in NYC. Event information here: cvent.utexas.edu/event/c4fe4a....

We cannot wait for this opportunity and celebration in September!

The 2025 Jenkins Medal Sports Legend is Billie Jean King, sports icon and equality champion. Join us on 9/26 to celebrate her and the (forthcoming) winners of the Dan Jenkins Medal for Excellence in Sportswriting. Seats, tables and sponsorships available: cvent.utexas.edu/event/c4fe4a...

We are very excited to bring the Jenkins Medal ceremony to the Big Apple. More exciting news to come!

huge news on the home front! so grateful and humbled to have been nominated for the Jenkins Medal alongside so many fine writers! thank you always to @escapecollective.bsky.social for trusting me with big stories and even crazier executions — a great publication that I’m proud to be a part of.

Make plans to meet us in Manhattan for the 2025 Jenkins Medal awards dinner. Ticket, table and sponsorship information coming soon. #savethedate

Get details and links to the stories cited for excellence by our Jenkins Medal jury at jenkinsmedal.com. There you'll also find plenty of history about the award, a bio for His Ownself and videos from past awards dinners. Information about the 2025 dinner coming soon.

H/T to all the writers. Extra H/T to the writers (and publications) on Blue Sky!!!: @brianburnsed.bsky.social, @tcraggs22.bsky.social, @danmoore.bsky.social, @katewagner.bsky.social (@espn.com, @theathletic.bsky.social, @escapecollective.bsky.social)

We're pleased to present the Best Sportswriting nominees for the 2025 Dan Jenkins Medal for Excellence in Sportswriting. Get article links and all the details at jenkinsmedal.com.

🤯🤯🤯

WHAT!

We're pleased to present the Best Sportswriting nominees for the 2025 Dan Jenkins Medal for Excellence in Sportswriting. Get article links and all the details at jenkinsmedal.com.