Call for Breeders' Cup Writing Awards
Breeders' Cup welcomes your participation in The Breeders’ Cup Writing Awards honoring excellence in coverage of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. There are two awards that will celebrate outstanding writing:.
To enter the competition for these awards, contestants may submit a maximum of two submissions per category: a choice from 2019 and a choice from 2020 in Outstanding News reporting, and a choice from 2019 and a choice from 2020 for Outstanding Feature writing. Please note that two submissions in one category from the same year will not be accepted.
Deadline for Entry is Thursday, October 7, 2021
Joe Hirsch Award for Outstanding News Reporting
This competition is open to those affiliated with a newspaper, magazine or an internet site. The submissions for the Joe Hirsch Award for Outstanding News Reporting are limited to a maximum of (2) submissions, one from each year. The submission must be a focused recap article of a 2019 or a 2020 Breeders’ Cup World Championships race. You may enter one article written and submitted for the corresponding day of Friday, Nov. 1 or Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019, and one article written and submitted for the corresponding day of Friday, Nov. 6 or Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020. You may also choose just to submit one article from either 2019 or 2020. Please include a timestamp web link to your articles. (It is understood that articles submitted under deadline circumstances may not have been posted by editors in a timely manner.)
Bill Leggett Award for Outstanding Feature Writing
The competition is open to those affiliated with a newspaper, magazine or an internet site. The submissions for the Bill Leggett Award for Outstanding Feature Writing are limited to a maximum of two (2) submissions, one from each year. Each submission must be focused on some aspect of the 2019 or the 2020 Breeders’ Cup: an advance story on a race, an individual profile, column, or a business article. You may also choose just to submit one article from either 2019 or 2020. Please also include the publication date of your article.
The winners of these awards will be announced at the National Turf Writers And Broadcasters Dinner at The Brigantine Del Mar on Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021.
Submission instructions are as follows:
Two steps: 1) Cover Letter and 2) Clean Documents for Judging
1) Write an email cover letter to jim@breederscup.com
a) Indicate the category for competition (News Reporting or Feature)
b) Name of publication
c) Headline of article
d) Include a weblink to the article in your cover letter. The link is not for judging purposes, just proof of published work. We need a clean Word document for judging.
2) Attach your Clean Documents of your submissions in Microsoft Word document or a similar format. For a News Reporting submission, please place a timestamp at the top of the article. For Feature Reporting submissions, please place the date of publication. However, do not place your byline or the name of your publication in any of your clean documents that will be judged.
Submission deadline is Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021.
Thanks very much, and Good Luck to all competitors.
- The Joe Hirsch Award for Outstanding News Reporting
- The Bill Leggett Award for Outstanding Feature Writing
To enter the competition for these awards, contestants may submit a maximum of two submissions per category: a choice from 2019 and a choice from 2020 in Outstanding News reporting, and a choice from 2019 and a choice from 2020 for Outstanding Feature writing. Please note that two submissions in one category from the same year will not be accepted.
Deadline for Entry is Thursday, October 7, 2021
Joe Hirsch Award for Outstanding News Reporting
This competition is open to those affiliated with a newspaper, magazine or an internet site. The submissions for the Joe Hirsch Award for Outstanding News Reporting are limited to a maximum of (2) submissions, one from each year. The submission must be a focused recap article of a 2019 or a 2020 Breeders’ Cup World Championships race. You may enter one article written and submitted for the corresponding day of Friday, Nov. 1 or Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019, and one article written and submitted for the corresponding day of Friday, Nov. 6 or Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020. You may also choose just to submit one article from either 2019 or 2020. Please include a timestamp web link to your articles. (It is understood that articles submitted under deadline circumstances may not have been posted by editors in a timely manner.)
Bill Leggett Award for Outstanding Feature Writing
The competition is open to those affiliated with a newspaper, magazine or an internet site. The submissions for the Bill Leggett Award for Outstanding Feature Writing are limited to a maximum of two (2) submissions, one from each year. Each submission must be focused on some aspect of the 2019 or the 2020 Breeders’ Cup: an advance story on a race, an individual profile, column, or a business article. You may also choose just to submit one article from either 2019 or 2020. Please also include the publication date of your article.
The winners of these awards will be announced at the National Turf Writers And Broadcasters Dinner at The Brigantine Del Mar on Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021.
Submission instructions are as follows:
Two steps: 1) Cover Letter and 2) Clean Documents for Judging
1) Write an email cover letter to jim@breederscup.com
a) Indicate the category for competition (News Reporting or Feature)
b) Name of publication
c) Headline of article
d) Include a weblink to the article in your cover letter. The link is not for judging purposes, just proof of published work. We need a clean Word document for judging.
2) Attach your Clean Documents of your submissions in Microsoft Word document or a similar format. For a News Reporting submission, please place a timestamp at the top of the article. For Feature Reporting submissions, please place the date of publication. However, do not place your byline or the name of your publication in any of your clean documents that will be judged.
Submission deadline is Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021.
Thanks very much, and Good Luck to all competitors.
Cutting to the chase, and to the surprise of almost no one, the HORSE OF THE YEAR is SOVEREIGNTY. Other finalists were Forever Young and Journalism. Congratulations!
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters today announced the winners of the 2025 Media Eclipse Awards in six categories. Every entry must have been primarily published or aired for the first time between November 16, 2024, and November 14, 2025.
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB) today announced the finalists for the 2025 Resolute Racing Eclipse Awards, recognizing excellence through the past year in Thoroughbred racing.
The National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB), with matching financial support from The Jockey Club, has agreed to support a record nine internship applications at horse racing media outlets in 2026, by far the largest group funded since the program began in 2023.
It was great seeing so many of you at Del Mar for the 2025 Breeders’ Cup and during our annual NTWAB Awards Dinner and our general membership meeting during Breeders’ Cup week.
The National Turf Writers and Broadcasters with matching financial support from The Jockey Club, today announced a substantial expansion of its internship funding program for equine media outlets in 2026. Both organizations have authorized contributions of up to $12,000 each, co-funding potentially eight paid internships designed to bolster staffing in horse racing media and foster the next generation of equine journalists.
A sold-out crowd attended the 65th edition of the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters Annual Awards Dinner at The Brigantine Del Mar on Oct. 29 where four traditional NTWAB Awards and four Breeders'.Cup Media Awards were presented. Photo array by Skip Dickstein. Narration by Dick Downey with contributions by Byron King.
I’m excited to see many of you at our 65th annual NTWAB Annual Awards Dinner on Oct. 29, the next day during our bi-annual general membership meeting Oct. 30 at Del Mar in the auxiliary press box, and during the two-day Breeders’ Cup World Championships Oct. 31-Nov. 1.
Lexington, Ky. (Oct. 7, 2025) ─ The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), in conjunction with Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers And Broadcasters today released the guidelines for the 2025 Media Eclipse Awards. The media awards are presented by the NTRA, Daily Racing Form, and the NTWAB in recognition of outstanding achievement in media coverage of Thoroughbred racing.
Bill Christine, a multiple award-winning sports and turf writer and former president of NTWAB, died at age 87.
