FAIRHOPE, Alabama (GCN)—For the second year in a row, Tony Whitehead, sports writer for Gulf Coast Newspapers, took top honors in the Alabama Press Association Better Newspaper Contest.

Whitehead’s article about Spanish Fort High School’s third straight 5A state baseball championship won first-place for The Courier and GCN this year in the Best Sports Single Event Story.  In 2012, he won a first-place award for his article, “Hills to climb, promises to keep,” in the Best Sports Feature Story category.

“It’s an honor of course to be recognized by peers in the trade,” Whitehead said.  “Like the Chris Hill story last year, this was also a happy story complicated by personal tragedy.  

“One of the Spanish Fort players, Blaine Crain, who went on to be named the MVP of the championship series, had lost his father during the second half of the 2012 season —just as the playoffs began,” Whitehead added. “I simply did the best I could to balance a profound sadness with the recurring fact that life, including work and play, just goes on.”

The annual APA contest recognizes achievements in journalism in a variety of categories. Winners of the 2013 APA contest were announced last week by Dee Ann Campbell, chairman of the APA Better Newspaper Contest Committee. Seventy newspapers submitted 2,668 entries in the annual contest.

The awards will be presented June 22 at the APA Conference in Destin, Fla. Several categories, including General Excellence, Best Story of the Year, Freedom of Information-First Amendment and Best Public Service, will not be announced until the awards banquet.

In addition to Whitehead’s award, GCN Sports Editor Eric Mann snagged a third-place win for The Independent with “Classic collision course” in the Best Sports Photo category, and freelance photographer Michelle Carroll Stancil won third-place for The Islander with “Coastal Christmas Spotlight” in the Best Feature Photo category.

GCN also publishes The Independent and The Onlooker, for a total of five community newspapers covering the length and breadth of Baldwin County.

Whitehead’s 2013 award-winning story, "Toro Trio," was published May 22, 2012, in The Fairhope Courier.

“Tony recognizes the value of school sports in our community, and he is dedicated to the coverage of sports for Gulf Coast Newspapers,” said GCN Publisher Sudie Gambrell.  “He brings experience and skills to his writing and photography. We are proud of Tony for this well-deserved award.”

Many readers turn to Whitehead for the latest sports news, and his work is well-known throughout Baldwin County and beyond. He began working full time at GCN in 1991 and has been an editorial contributor since 1989.

In addition to his first-place wins of the past two years, Whitehead received a second-place award for Best Sports Column in the 2009 APA contest and a third-place in 2010 for Best Sports Photograph.

“Tony is a tremendous writer and a great asset to our sports department,” Mann said. “His writing connects with our readers and his photography is top notch. I'm not surprised that he won another first-place award because he writes 'first place' stories for Gulf Coast Newspapers all the time."

Editor’s Note: See the May 17 issue of The Courier for additional coverage of GCN’s achievements in the 2013 Alabama Press Association Better Newspaper Contest.