PaperCity’s Chris Baldwin Wins a National Writing Award For His University of Houston Basketball Coverage
UH Student Journalists Alejandro Compean and Camryn Alberigo Have Their Own Impressive Showings In USBWA's First-Ever Student Awards
BY PaperCity Staff Report //
Mylik Wilson hit the 3-point shot that kept the University of Houston alive in its remarkable 92-86 win at Kansas.
PaperCity’s Chris Baldwin has won a national writing award for his coverage of the University of Houston basketball team. The U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) named Baldwin its first place winner in the Game/Spot News category in results released in advance of this weekend’s Final Four in Indianapolis.
Other first place winners include Ryan McGee and David Hale of ESPN. Mike Sielski of the Philadelphia Inquirer finished second to Baldwin in the Game/Spot news category of the professional awards. University of Houston journalism students also had an impressive showing with Alejandro Compean and Camryn Alberigo of The Cougar taking second and fourth place respectively in the USBWA’s first-ever student awards.
Baldwin’s winning story detailed UH’s remarkable double-overtime win over Kansas, Houston coach Kelvin Sampson’s first win ever at the Jayhawks’ storied Allen Fieldhouse, considered the cathedral of college basketball, in his 37-season coaching career. The USBWA called Baldwin’s piece “an expansive story following Houston’s dramatic double-overtime victory over Kansas. Rather than focusing solely on the final moments of the game, Baldwin examined the events that led into the matchup and the ripple effects that followed, weaving together context, reaction and analysis to capture the broader significance of the night for both programs.”
Here is a look at the first five paragraphs of the first place PaperCity story:
LAWRENCE, Kansas — Lauren Sampson throws her arms straight up in the air because she is the first Sampson there and Kelvin Sampson goes rushing into the embrace, happiness breaking out all over his often stern face. Soon, both father and daughter will have tears in their eyes. A college basketballs season can be a grind, especially when you work as hard as everyone in this University of Houston basketball program does. But sometimes you get, or more accurately create, instances of pure joy, shining moments that remind everyone how special this all is.
On the first Saturday of the year without football games, with more general Houston sports fans’ attention on UH, Sampson’s bunch of battlers do just that in a no-way, all-fight 92-86 double overtime win at Kansas’ storied Allen Fieldhouse. If you’re missing this Houston Sampson era, you’re missing out on one of the best stories in sports period, a remarkable run that needs to be appreciated.
There’s Milos Uzan and Mylik Wilson pulling each other into a hug/chest bump, the “new” point guard who so many doubted and the graduate senior guard who came back when so many outside the Houston program told him he should transfer somewhere smaller for a chance to star. It turns out Mylik Wilson wanted the BIG and there’s few things bigger than hitting a 3-pointer with two seconds left in overtime to tie the game, snatch victory from Kansas and send one of basketball’s true cathedrals into stunned shock.
“You’re a killer!” Uzan barks, pounding Wilson on the chest, right by the heart that most missed.
Later as Milos Uzan walks across a now empty, still shining Kansas floor, UH assistant coach Hollis Price, who excelled in games like this as a lead guard for Sampson at Oklahoma, but never could beat Kansas at Kansas, turns into Uzan’s personal hype man. “Damn, seventeen, nine and nine,” Price intones of Uzan’s stats (points, assists and rebounds) with a gusto Michael Buffer would appreciate. “Nine rebounds?! Oh, you trying to get a triple double. You messed around and almost got a triple double!”
To read the full piece on PaperCity, go here. To read about all the U.S. Basketball Writers Association winners, go here.
Founded in 1956, the USBWA carries a 70-year track record. The organization gives out some of the biggest national player awards in the game, including the Oscar Robertson Trophy (men’s national player of the year), the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award (women’s national player of the year) as well as the annual men’s and women’s All-America teams. The writers awards luncheon will be held at the Indiana Pacers’ Gainbridge Fieldhouse arena before Monday night’s national championship game at the nearby Lucas Oil Stadium.
Baldwin, who is PaperCity’s Network Editorial Director, first broke the national story of the WNBA returning to Houston just last Friday, getting credit from ESPN, The New York Times and the Houston Chronicle. You can follow Chris Baldwin on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter here and read his full stories only on PaperCity.