News-Review sports editor earns Sportswriter of the Year honors from New York Press Association

Longtime News-Review sports editor Bob Liepa was named Sportswriter of the Year by the New York Press Association at the organization’s virtual convention last week.

Mr. Liepa has served as sports editor for Times Review Media Group since 1993 and previously worked as a news reporter covering Greenport. The award comes in a year when the COVID-19 pandemic forced Mr. Liepa to return to news as sports shut down for much of 2020.

“[It was] a year in which I may have written the least sports since I was a full-time news reporter,” Mr. Liepa joked with colleagues.

Mr. Liepa still managed to write enough outside-the-box sports stories to win the award, even writing stories about athletes from the North Fork’s past, including late Greenport standout Gerald Crenshaw, whose obituary he wrote for the paper. He also wrote about a local business owner’s prowess at cornhole — another departure from the high school sports he’s covered for several generations of North Fork locals.

Of Mr. Liepa’s entry into the competition, the New York Better Newspaper Contest judges from the Pennsylvania Newspaper Publishers Association said, “every item was complete, full of details and engaging writing.”

In all, Times Review Media Group claimed 23 awards in the contest, which included 2,440 entries from 151 newspapers competing in 64 categories.

Editor Joe Werkmeister was awarded Best Column for his work that regularly appears on Times Review op/ed pages. The News-Review also claimed first place awards for Best Front Page and Coverage of Education.

“We have an incredibly talented team and it’s nice to receive this recognition, especially given how challenging this past year has been,” said Times Review publisher Andrew Olsen.

It was a good weekend for East End newspapers with The Southampton Press Eastern Edition being awarded Newspaper of the Year and the Stuart C. Dorman Award for Editorial Excellence, named for the late Suffolk Times publisher.

Below is a complete list of awards given to the News-Review:

First Place

Sportswriter of the Year — Bob Liepa

Best Column — Joe Werkmeister

Best Front Page — Lauren Sisson, Joe Werkmeister, Grant Parpan and Tara Smith

Coverage of Education — Joe Werkmeister, Tara Smith and Kate Nalepinski

Second Place

Best Use of Video — Joe Werkmeister

Spot News — Grant Parpan and Tara Smith

Third Place

Feature Story — Cailin Riley

Best Obituaries — Lauren Sisson, Bob Liepa and Tim Gannon