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2006 Sports Designer of the Year
We're bringing to a close the very first Best of Sports Design awards with the 2006 Sports Designer of the Year, as selected by a panel of editors and designers from every time zone and region of the country.
The musical accompaniment for this is none other than John Prine's noted folk number "Dear Abby." It was chosen for three reasons: One, it's the only newspaper song I think I own, and we needs us a newspaper song here; two, I won't get arrested for including it; and three, it's the right length. Enjoy.
Yes, that video is WAY too low res. Click here for a higher-res,clearer Quicktime version of the entire thing. In this version, Mr. Prine has been replaced by some random soothing clip-music that came with ibooks in 2004. Think of it as an elevator ride with better visuals.
That leads me to this disclaimer: I'm just old enough to be unnatural with multimedia journalism. I'm making a concerted effort, but it's not an overnight process. So, yes, my apologies for the poor quality of the above YouTube. Please click the Quicktime version for one that won't cause nearly the headache.
Congratulations to the Sports Designer of the Year, all the finalists and nominees in the inaugural Best of Sports Design competition. ... Until next year ...
February 22, 2007 | Permalink
Comments
I kept his name out of the post, but no way does he not deserve to be congratulated here.
Nice work for 12 straight months, Vince.
Posted by: Josh Crutchmer | Feb 22, 2007 11:33:02 PM
He's so dreamy!
Seriously, awesome work all around. Vince, you don't need anyone to tell you your good but dude you've had a couple careers in the last year. Simply stunning stuff.
And to Josh, a really nice way to cap the whole contest off. Congrats to all the winners and big props to Josh for getting it off the ground.
Posted by: DesignHawg | Feb 23, 2007 2:39:46 AM
Yes. Great choice and entirely deserved. The best of SD went great, I think, and the video was a great touch. And again, props to Vince!
Posted by: Josh Bohling | Feb 23, 2007 7:39:35 AM
Congratulation on a well-deserved victory. As a colleague, he's a great guy to be around, and to have around! Great job, Vince!
Posted by: Jack Weibel | Feb 23, 2007 9:39:04 AM
Excellent choice. Terrific work all the way around. Smart, thoughtful and arresting. Congrats Vince!
Overall I thought the contest was successful and enjoyable. I hope it grows in the coming years. Thanks for all your efforts Josh. Perhaps next year we could include some comments from the winners on how & why they did what they did. I always find those types of insights constructive and it would elevate the contest from the SND approach of merely showing attractive pages. (Where did Ryan get all those rings and when did he start?) Although the industry is struggling, I'm encouraged by the caliber of work being done by so many of my talented colleagues. Nice work everyone!
Posted by: Scott Minister | Feb 23, 2007 10:42:50 AM
Hey Scott. That's an excellent idea.
Posted by: Josh Crutchmer | Feb 23, 2007 10:56:06 AM
I second Scott's idea. I'd love to know what goes into making one of these great pages. Why wait until next year? Make it a regular feature where you ask a designer how they made a great page happen.
Posted by: Dave | Feb 23, 2007 11:10:37 AM
In a year of jaw-dropping work all around, Vince definitely stood out. Congrats to him on the award!
Posted by: Luke | Feb 23, 2007 12:12:34 PM
Congrats Vince! And a big thanks to Crutch, too, for making this happen.
Posted by: Geoff Pinnock | Feb 23, 2007 12:27:47 PM
Agreed, congrats to both Vince and Josh for winning and running a great contest.
Not Ryan, but all those rings can be found on the SuperBowl.com site every year.
Posted by: Harrison | Feb 23, 2007 1:25:33 PM
Congrats to Vince - he's very, very deserving. And a fine job by Mr. Crutchmer - I'm looking forward to next year.
Posted by: Trudell | Feb 23, 2007 2:16:00 PM
Flattered and honored would be an understatement to how I feel right now. That slide show got me a small standing ovation in my newsroom. There is nothing better (including SND awards) than having the respect and admiration of your peers. I've always felt the sports design community contained some of the industry's most talented people and the competiton is tremendous. I am truly thankful for every comment and e-mail that I have received from all of you. Special thanks to Josh and Rich for creating the contest. And thanks again to everyone who selected me as the first Sports Designer of the Year.
Posted by: Vince Chiaramonte | Feb 23, 2007 2:26:05 PM
Congrat, Vince. Outstanding work as always
Posted by: Joe Engel | Feb 23, 2007 2:54:21 PM
Many congrats to Vince on an outstanding year!
Posted by: tball | Feb 23, 2007 3:05:28 PM
So many talented sports designers, but Mr. Chiaramonte is absolutely the perfect choice! His creativity is consistently outstanding, not only with special pages but routine daily covers as well. Forgive the plug, but come to the SND conference in Boston in October to see Vince's presentation about the process behind his designs.
Posted by: Brian Gross | Feb 23, 2007 4:33:28 PM
congrat vince we are all proud of you and the outstanding work that you did.
Posted by: Grace | Feb 23, 2007 4:53:33 PM
VC is the man.
Posted by: Olds | Feb 23, 2007 9:17:49 PM
I'm glad to see this go to Mr. Chiaramonte. Whenever I find myself stuck for an idea, I almost always find myself looking at his stuff for inspiration. Congratulations. Maybe someday I'll be half as good as you.
Posted by: James Royal | Feb 23, 2007 10:35:52 PM
Oh, and much props to Josh for this whole thing. It was an awesome undertaking, but I hope to see it back in the future.
Posted by: James Royal | Feb 23, 2007 10:36:54 PM
Well deserved Vin...great job.Big fan of your work,especially Faces of a Nation
Posted by: AC | Feb 24, 2007 10:54:04 PM
Sophisticated, dynamic ... and fresh. You definitely earned it. Congrats.
Posted by: Wayne Kamidoi | Feb 26, 2007 8:17:04 PM
I've been away from sports the past six months, so I lost a little touch with sports design and especially Vince's portfolio. But when I did take a peak at his work I really had one of those moments, pretty akin to when I saw Janet Michaud's Roger Clemens' strikeout page in 1997 (if you don't know the one, I've got a jpeg). In an age where visual plagarism creeps up at almost every turn and the "box in a box" was something we all thought about — or did — try this year, his work seemed incredibly fresh. It made me want to do some sports design, right then. In short, his work made me want to be a better journalist.
Posted by: Rob Schneider | Feb 27, 2007 6:50:38 PM
One ... Cut a hole in the box.
Two ... Put a box in that bo-x-x-x.
Posted by: Josh Crutchmer | Feb 28, 2007 9:54:26 AM
This page should be named "US sports designer"... all i see here and your contest and the wining pages are all US-style design, have you people notice other countries sports design? I dont want to be rude, but maybe you should put a disclaimer explaining that this a "US-Only" web page. Pardon me, but all US sports pages (an many others) look the same over and over again, year after year... its always great pictures, some concept art and thats it, the layouts are always the same... its just a sugestion, but maybe you guys would really break some ground if you open up to new things. Thanks for the comment space. Cheers!
Posted by: Horacio Pruneda | Mar 3, 2007 4:01:59 PM
An excellent page from the Times of India, winning in a very difficult category:
http://sportsdesigner.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/dhoni_1.jpg
The world was invited. No nominee was turned away, nor will any nominee be turned away at any point in the future.
Posted by: Josh Crutchmer | Mar 3, 2007 10:11:53 PM
