Gongs for sports writers proves news breaking ability

Paul Lewis.

More evidence is in on the quality of the journalists working for your newspaper, the Herald on Sunday.

Three of the paper's sports writers have been rewarded for their strong work at the national sports journalism awards, the TP McLean Awards.

Sports Editor Paul Lewis won a major gong, the BankLink Award for sports news writing, based on a portfolio of stories covering the dramatic ditching of Olympic heroes Ian Ferguson and Paul MacDonald from national canoeing coaching ranks; the intense fight behind the scenes of David Tua's recent fights; and Valerie Adams' shock choice of a new coach - all exclusives.

Rugby writer Gregor Paul, who is also editor of NZ Rugby World, won the Steinlager Award for feature writing in magazines. Sports reporter Michael Burgess picked up a Sparc Sports Journalism Scholarship which carries a prize of $1000 and enables him to spend time with key sports leaders and organisations to gain a wider understanding of sports governance in New Zealand.

The paper's editor, Bryce Johns, said: "Paul Lewis is one of the most senior, hard-nosed and professional sports journalists in the country. He leads a fantastic team and this is proof of it."