Archdeacon won in the 100,000-and-under newspaper circulation category with a five-column entry that included stories on: Jeremey Ganger, the Ned Peppers bouncer whose heroic actions saved many during the deadly Oregon District mass shooting; Dr. Barrett Robinson, the former Chaminade-Julienne football player and now one of the nation’s top prenatal surgeons, discussing matters of race and the COVID-19 pandemic; Tole Kikubi, the Fairmont high football player who has blossomed after coming from a refugee camp in Africa; Lucinda Adams, who rose from poverty and segregation outside Savannah, Ga., to become an Olympic gold medal winner and longtime Dayton educator; and Archdeacon’s long and sometimes comical relationship with legendary coach Don Shula, who died last May.
“Demonstrating a keen eye for detail and a nose for news, Archdeacon’s columns are linked by their roots in sports, but from there they venture to astonishingly different pathways,” the judges said.
Kurt Streeter of the New York Times won the column award in the over 100,000 circulation category.
Archdeacon also won column awards in 2012, 2013 and 2016. He won the Sigma Delta Chi award for feature writing in 1989.
The awards were presented in an online ceremony Saturday night.