Soccer: Our footie scribe wins fourth award

Michael Brown. Photo / Herald on Sunday

The Herald On Sunday's Michael Brown has equalled a unique record by winning the New Zealand Soccer Media Association's Writer Of The Year award for the fourth consecutive time.

Brown won the award in 2005, 2006 and 2007 (it was not held in 2008) before winning the 2009 award in results announced this week. The only other writer to have done so was Russell Gray, who won during 1989-1992. The awards have been in existence since 1980.

Judge Josh Easby, himself a former football writer, said: "Michael Brown's stories were outstanding in many ways - good angles, well-written, excellent research/sourcing of information and cliche-free.

"Much [football] coverage is predictable. So it's a pleasure when you can read stories such as Michael's that actually tell you stuff you didn't know, and reveal it in a way that makes it interesting. Michael's entries were significantly the best and it was an easy decision for me. He's a worthy winner."

Gray won another award this year: Publication of the Year for his book Ricki Herbert - A New Fire. Hannah Johnston of Getty Images won the photography award, Andrew Gourdie the television journalist of the year award and Jason Pine (The Radio Network), the radio journalist of the year title.

Brown's portfolio included stories about Caleb Rufer's budding career in Germany, the All Whites being behind the One Shot For Glory promotion, how much the All Whites stood to earn from the 2010 World Cup campaign, a feature on New Zealand's 1982 World Cup playoff against China and the match report from the historic playoff against Bahrain.