Star Tribune sports staff earns top prize from APSE; Chip Scoggins, Ben Goessling honored

The Star Tribune sports staff has won the top national honor specific to sports journalism: the Associated Press Sports Editors "Grand Slam" award. APSE judges also gave top honors this week to two Star Tribune sportswriters, Chip Scoggins and Ben Goessling, and three photographers, Jerry Holt, Aaron Lavinsky and Alex Kormann.

To earn the 2022 Grand Slam, the Star Tribune placed in the Top 10 in four judged categories: event coverage, project reporting, and the overall print section and digital coverage categories. In the event category, the Star Tribune was honored for its coverage of the Vikings' historic comeback against the Colts in Week 15 of the NFL season, which came on the same day the Star Tribune produced a special report on the franchise's 1,000 games. And the Star Tribune's months-long coverage of the 50th anniversary of Title IX last year earned the project category win.

Scoggins and Goessling both won Top 10 honors, in the Long Feature and Beat Writing categories, respectively. As the lead Vikings reporter, Goessling began 2022 with the news of the Vikings firing coach Mike Zimmer and ended with a remarkable, news-filled season on the field. Scoggins, along with Lavinsky, spent several months chronicling the Red Lake Nation high school football team, its coach and their community, resulting in a story published on the Star Tribune's front page in early December.

Winning Top 10 placement in action photography were Holt and Lavinsky, and Kormann won for feature photography.

Results were announced this week during the APSE's annual winter meeting in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The Star Tribune won back-to-back Triple Crown honors from APSE in 2019 and 2020, and it last won the Grand Slam honor in 2016.