Jennie Rees and Tim Sullivan have both won a 2015 Media Eclipse Award for Writing, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers And Broadcasters (NTWAB) announced Tuesday.
Rees won in the Feature/Commentary category for “Dyslexia Doesn't Slow Down Keen Ice Trainer Romans,” a piece about trainer Dale Roman's battle with a severe reading disability which was published on the Louisville Courier-Journal website Oct. 28, 2015. This is the fifth Eclipse Award for Rees, who retired in November after 34 years with the Louisville Courier-Journal. Her previous Eclipses were for magazine writing in 1988, newspaper and news-enterprise writing in 1993 and 2011 and was the main writer for the Courier-Journal's Eclipse-winning entry in the multi-media category in 2008.
“What a tremendous way to go out,” said Rees. “This whole year has been tremendous. To be voted in the Joe Hirsch wing of the Hall of Fame, covering a Triple Crown winner and a Breeders' Cup at Keeneland. I am proud that Dale's story was written during a very busy week at the Breeders' Cup. This was the kind of story that you want to spend time writing at other times of the year, and you want to take a week to write it. I think it's a tribute to the power of the subject and Dale's willingness to open up about a very difficult subject.”
Honorable mention in the Feature/Commentary category went to Vinnie Perrone for “Hall of Fame Ride: Maryland Trainer Leatherbury takes place among Thoroughbred Racing Legend,” a profile of King T. Leatherbury, which appeared in the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred in August 2015; Joe Drape for “Ahmed Zayat's Journey: Bankruptcy and Big Bets,” which appeared in The New York Times June 5, 2015; and to Melissa Hoppert, also of The New York Times, whose article “A Storied Trainer and a Witness to History,” about Hall of Famer John Nerud, appeared on the publication's website June 6, 2015. Judges in this category were Ed Gray, former Boston Herald racing writer; Lynne Snierson, former sports writer for the Boston Globe and the Miami News; Hank Wesch, former racing writer for the San Diego Union-Tribune; and Richard Rosenblatt, racing and sports writer for The Associated Press.
Sullivan won in the News/Enterprise category for “Family, PETA at odds after Horseman's Death,” an investigative report into circumstances surrounding the suicide of Hub Johnson, assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen, and his interaction with PETA informants which appeard in the Courier-Journal Sept. 6, 2015.
This is the first Eclipse Award for Sullivan, who has been a sports columnist with the Courier-Journal since 2012. He was a sports writer and columnist for the Cincinnati Enquirer and a sports columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune prior to joining the Courier-Journal.
“I'm thrilled and honored to be chosen for an Eclipse Award, but my excitement is somewhat tempered by the tragedy of Hub Johnson,” said Sullivan. “In the course of reporting this story, I developed a high regard for a young man I never met and a keen appreciation of how his loss has affected his family and friends. Their willingness to share personal and sometimes painful memories helped me gain insight into Hub's life as well as his death.”
Johnson shot himself just 10 days after PETA allegations were released against Asmussen. Sullivan became interested in the Johnson story when he was considering writing a piece on Asmussen, but decided to change course.
“What began as a search for a single day's column stretched into a project that developed over a period of months,” Sullivan recalled. “The story was much more involved than I had anticipated, and not all of the dots could be connected. Though I probably spent more time on this story than anything else I have written, I have not yet been able to get my head around the decision Hub Johnson ultimately made, and the desperation he must have felt. Like so many of his survivors, I remain puzzled that he chose to end his life.”
Honorable mention in the News Enterprise Category went to Joe Drape for “American Pharoah Wins Belmont Stakes and Triple Crown,” which appeared in The New York Times June 7. Judges for the News/Enterprise category were Dan Liebman, former Blood-Horse and Frankfort (Ky.) State Journal editor; Rob Longley of the Toronto Sun and David Papadopoulos, a managing editor at Bloomberg News.
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