NSMA's Legacy Night Awards: Holly Rowe, Wynston Wilcox Win Reporter Awards, Posnanski Book, "Beckham" Also Honored

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (May 1, 2024) – With less than two months remaining before the National Sports Media Association’s annual convention, the awards picture is coming into focus. The NSMA announced four of its Legacy Night awards, which will be presented as part of the NSMA’s Legacy Night celebration on June 30, 2024, at Grandover Resort – a Wyndham Grand Hotel – in Greensboro, N.C. The newly announced winners are:

• 2023 Best Sideline Reporter – Holly Rowe, ESPN
• 2023 Best Young (Under-30) Reporter – Wynston Wilcox, Memphis Commercial-Appeal
• 2023 Sports Book of the Year – “Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments,” by Joe Posnanski
• 2023 Sports Documentary of the Year – “Beckham,” shown on Netflix, directed by Fisher Stevens.

The Roone Arledge Award for Innovation, announced last month, will go to “Hoop Dreams” documentary filmmakers, Steve James and Peter Gilbert.

Rowe is widely recognized for her versatility and excellence as a reporter over more than 20 years at ESPN. Her high-profile events include ABC Saturday Night Football, Big Monday men’s college basketball, NCAA Women’s Final Four, and College World Series, as well as the WNBA. A 2023 recipient of the Curt Gowdy Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Rowe also won the 2022 Sports Emmy for Outstanding Personality/Reporter. The Utah native is a graduate of the University of Utah.

Wilcox recently finished a two-and-a-half-year stint at the Memphis Commercial-Appeal, where he won an Associated Press Sports Editors First-Place Award for breaking news. Wilcox had previous stops at The Augusta Chronicle and Niagara Gazette. The Cincinnati native is a graduate of the University of Ohio.

“Why We Love Baseball” was a New York Times bestseller and winner of the CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book (2023). The seventh book by NSMA’s 2012 National Sportswriter of the Year tells of both well-known and lesser-known moments that can educate even the most-ardent baseball fan.” In its review, the Wall Street Journal said, "Mr. Posnanski is a bit like the guy telling baseball stories at a bar—if that guy is clever, funny, not averse to hyperbole, sentiment or numerology, willing to go to great lengths to track down a fact and possessed of a way with words...”

“Beckham,” the four-episode docuseries, focuses on the life of soccer superstar David Beckham, both on and off the field. The off-the-field piece includes Beckham’s equally famous wife, Victoria, also known as Posh Spice of the 1990s British musical group, the Spice Girls. The Guardian’s review of the docuseries said, “It turns out to be a surprisingly candid look at the life and career of one of the most famous footballers of all time, and it certainly is a rollicking ride.”

The 64^th NSMA awards weekend and national convention are set for Grandover Resort – a Wyndham Grand Hotel in Greensboro, N.C. for the first time. For additional information, please visit www.nationalsportsmedia.org. Tickets to the NSMA awards weekend and national convention are available at https://bit.ly/3T4BMX5.