The Walter Haight Award is an award conferred annually by the National Turf Writers And Broadcasters (NTWAB) for career excellence in turf writing. The award is named after Walter Haight, former racing reporter of the Washington Post.
History Established in 1972, the award honors sports journalist Walter Haight. It is presented each year at the annual dinner of the National Turf Writers Association.
The Walter Haight Award began as a recognition of the year's outstanding training achievement, with the first presentation made in 1969 for achievements in 1968. It was later dedicated to turf writers who had made a distinguished contribution to the profession of covering thoroughbred racing. Its first recipient was American sportswriter Jimmy Doyle of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Past recipients Source: 1972 – Jimmy Doyle 1973 – George F. T. Ryall (Audax Minor) 1974 – Raleigh Burroughs 1975 – Don Fair 1976 – Saul Rosen 1977 – Red Smith 1978 – Nelson Fisher 1979 – Barney Nagler 1980 – Joe Nichols 1981 – Bill Robertson 1982 – Joe Agrella 1983 – Fred Russell 1984 – Joe Hirsch 1985 – Sam McCracken 1986 – Ed Comerford 1987 – Si Burick 1988 – Leon Rasmussen 1989 – William Leggett 1990 – Kent Hollingsworth 1991 – Bob Harding 1992 – Mike Barry, Bill Nack 1993 – Jack Mann 1994 – Edward L. Bowen 1995 – Jay Hovdey 1996 – Ed Schuyler Jr. 1997 – Jim Bolus 1998 – Andrew Beyer 1999 – Jennie Rees 2000 – Bill Christine 2001 – Gary West 2002 – Billy Reed 2003 – Russ Harris 2004 – Steve Haskin 2005 – Jay Privman 2006 – Steven Crist 2007 – Dick Jerardi 2008 – Maryjean Wall 2009 – Dan Farley 2010 – Neil Milbert 2011 – David Grening 2012 – Bill Mooney 2013 – Bob Fortus 2014 – Tom LaMarra 2015 – Tim Layden 2016 – Hank Wesch 2017 – Matt Hegarty 2018 – Marty McGee 2019 – Tim Wilkin 2020 – None 2021 – Lenny Shulman 2022 – Tom Pedulla 2023 – Mike Kane 2024 – Sean Clancy 2025 – Steve Andersen
See also National Turf Writers Association
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