IBMA announces results of annual IBMA Writing Competition

18 April, 2018

IBMA

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The annual IBMA Writing Competition results are in. As is the tradition, all IBMA Members were invited to submit articles, published during the 2017 calendar year, in three categories: Editorial, News and Features.

A panel of four judges had the arduous task of selecting winners from a record number of entries. The winners are:

Editorial
Winner: Lucas Wiseman (pictured)
“Kegel Founder John Davis Deserves a Spot in USBC HoF“, BowlingDigital.com
Runner-Up: Jef Goodger
“If Only People Knew”, Bowlers Journal International
Honorable Mention: Gianmarc Manzione
“Tony Reyes”, Bowlers Journal International

News
Winner: Jef Goodger
“Norm Duke Gets A Mulligan”, Bowlers Journal International
Runner-Up: Bob Johnson
“The Hug Seen Around the World”, Bowlers Journal International
Honorable Mention: Pamela Thompson
“Strike Out Hunger”, International Bowling Industry

Feature
Winner: Bob Johnson
“Back from the Brink”, Bowlers Journal International
Runner-Up: Gianmarc Manzione
“Sleepless in Reno”, Bowlers Journal International
Honorable Mention: Lyle Zikes
“Growing Future for Pro Bowlers”, Bowlers Journal International

“The process of choosing the winners is quite involved and time consuming,” said IBMA President, Keith Hamilton (right). “It has to be this way in order to remove any bias towards an individual writer, publication or newspaper.”

Entries are sent to the IBMA Operations Manager who copies each story into a word document, making sure there is no byline or mention of the publication from which the story came. The judges do not know who submitted the article or where it was published.

Winners are chosen using a very thorough and complex point system, loosely based on the same matrix as used by the Writer’s Digest which is in their ninth decade of hosting a competition. The articles are judged in seven categories, including grammar and punctuation, and each judge chooses his or her finalists.”

This was a record-breaking year for the competition, with 91 entries from 23 individuals representing nearly a dozen publications. The feature category was the favorite with 38 entries. The editorial and news categories were more evenly split with 28 and 25, respectively.

“We were fortunate to have an exemplary panel of judges comprised of two published authors, two teaching professionals and two USBC Hall of Fame members,” Committee Chairperson, Frenchy Letourneau, added. “Congratulations to all the winners, and a heartfelt thank you to all who participated.”

The Awards will be presented at the IBMA awards breakfast during the USBC Convention at the Grand Sierra Resort, Reno. Join us on April 26, 2018 at 7:30 a.m. for the presentations. If you would like to attend, contact Jackie Wyckoff, IBMA Operations Manager at [email protected].

Herbert Bickel