NATCHITOCHES — Pineville journalist John Marcase was honored with a prestigious Louisiana Sports Writers Association award Sunday while Rapides Parish Journal writers Bob Tompkins, Ron Higgins and Doug Ireland picked up writing prizes at the LSWA’s annual Awards Brunch.
Marcase, who is a contributing writer for the Journal and 446Sports.com after a long career as a writer and sports editor at the Alexandria Town Talk, received the LSWA’s treasured Mac Russo-Jack Brittain Jr. Award. It is presented to one person annually who has made remarkable contributions to the progress and ideals of the LSWA.
Marcase was also installed as the new LSWA president, moving up from the vice president’s role and replacing former Town Talk sports editor Raymond Partsch III, who served a pair of two-year terms.
The LSWA’s Writing Contest rewarded work for stories published in the calendar year 2023. A record number of entries were received, said Partsch.
Tompkins, whose column appears every Tuesday in the RPJ, was a second-place winner in the LSWA’s General Columns category (Class II) for a piece that noted it was the time of year to endure coaching jargon. Tompkins also received a fourth place in the Columnist of the Year competition for Class II, a remarkable award considering that only about half of his columns are sports oriented, and he is a weekly columnist.
Higgins, who was enshrined in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Saturday night with the LSWA’s Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism, picked up four contest awards Sunday. The Journal’s LSU beat writer since last July won for work written earlier in 2023 for Tiger Details, including a first place for his story on the Tiger baseball team’s College World Series championship game victory.
Ireland took a third in Class I Columnist of the Year competition and was fourth in the Class I Prep Column contest for his column bemoaning the poor information flow from the 2023 girls Marsh Madness state basketball tournament in Hammond.
Ireland won in the general column contest in Class II for a piece that originally ran in the Natchitoches Parish Journal, addressing cancellation of Northwestern State’s football season after a player’s shooting death last October.
Ireland was the Class I third-place finisher in the Columnist of the Year competition for work that was originally published in the Shreveport-Bossier Journal. He captured the Class II Columnist of the Year award was for work that initially ran in the Natchitoches Parish Journal.
Adding in awards won by writers from the Shreveport-Bossier Journal and the Lincoln Parish Journal, the Journal Services team collected a combined 24 writing honors handed out during the LSWA’s annual awards brunch that caps the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame induction weekend.