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BoxingInsider.com writer Ivan G. Goldman won two awards in the fiercely competitive Bernies contest sponsored annually by the Boxing Writers Association of America.
These were our first awards in this competition, but this was also the first year we entered. The winners were announced today.
Goldman took a second place for his series of articles in BoxingInsider.com on the plight of railroaded ex-fighter Anthony Fletcher, who sits on Pennsylvania’s death row for a murder that autopsy evidence proves he didn’t commit. The award-winning series ran last year on May 9, June 4, June 13, June 22, July 3, July 24, and Aug. 24.
Goldman also won a third-place award for his article in Columbia Journalism Review, “The Ring is Counted Out,” describing a mass firing at The Ring magazine as Golden Boy Promotions took over the magazine’s editorial functions. The magazine is operated by the prestigious graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University.
Said Goldman: “Any awards are a tribute to Anthony, an innocent man who’s already served more than twenty years without going off the deep end. He’s what this is all about. I am very appreciative to the editorial staff at BoxingInsider for giving me a forum for Anthony, who was framed. We have to keep the pressure on.
“His case is much more open-and-shut innocent than the case of ex-middleweight Hurricane Carter, who won his freedom in New Jersey under somewhat similar circumstances. But Carter, bless him, was a great organizer and managed to get plenty of people outside the walls working in his behalf. Anthony, although he’s quite intelligent, doesn’t have the same organizational skills, and his movements are much more constricted because he’s on death row. Meanwhile Pennsylvania authorities keep him locked up so they won’t look bad. Amazing but true.
“Anthony is an ex-contender in the lightweight division, a tough Philly fighter, and an ex-soldier, and he will never stop trying to win justice. We need to keep the pressure on. Maybe someone could wake up the governor.”
The BWAA’s Bernie Awards were known until last year as the Barneys — after Barney Nagler, the late boxing writer and editor. This year they were renamed the Bernies to honor Bernard Fernandez, the Philadelphia Daily News boxing writer, who won a prize winner this year, and is past president of the BWAA. The contest is judged by an independent panel of journalists whose membership changes every year.
Taking first place in investigative reporting was Thomas Hauser, for “The PED Mess,” a series that ran in MaxBoxing.com. Taking third place was
Norm Frauenheim, for “Worst Experience of My Life,” in Ring.
Goldman’s third place award on the Ring shakeup was for feature articles over 1,750 words. First Place was a tie: Chris Mannix, “Bob Arum Still Hustling at 81,” on SportsIllustrated.com and Carlo Rotella, “The Prospect – Playing in Time: Essays, Profiles and Other True Stories, University of Chicago Press, 2012.
Second Place, Michael Woods, “The Fight That Killed,” ESPNNewYork.com. Winning honorable Mention were Bart Barry, The Ring; Ron Borges, Boxing Monthly; Ronan Keenan, TheSweetScience.com; Michael Rosenthal, The Ring, and Joseph Santoliquito, RingTV.com.
“We were pleased to bring attention to Anthony Fletcher’s terrible situation,” said BoxingInsider.com chief editor Larry Goldberg. “We won’t forget our boxing brother, and we congratulate Ivan for his two awards.”
The BoxingInsider.com articles on Fletcher can be found in chronological order at these links:
http://www.boxinginsider.com/columns/ex-philly-fighter-anthony-fletcher-railroaded-2-decades-ago-sits-forgotten-in-pa-cell/
http://www.boxinginsider.com/columns/pennsylvania-supreme-court-a-key-culprit-in-live-entombment-of-ex-philly-lightweight-anthony-fletcher/
http://www.boxinginsider.com/columns/evidence-proves-condemned-ex-philly-lightweight-anthony-fletcher-innocent/
http://www.boxinginsider.com/columns/does-pennsylvania-even-know-why-it-keeps-ex-fighter-anthony-fletcher-in-prison/
http://www.boxinginsider.com/columns/texas-d-a-provides-road-map-to-freeing-framed-ex-fighter-anthony-fletcher/
http://www.boxinginsider.com/columns/framed-ex-philly-fighter-anthony-fletcher-keeps-punching/
http://www.boxinginsider.com/columns/kardashian-toilet-attracts-more-media-than-framed-ex-fighter/
http://www.boxinginsider.com/columns/son-of-ex-fighter-anthony-fletcher-slain-by-unknown-gunmen/
