from Team Valor

Barry Irwin and his Team Valor International will again honor excellent journalism in 2016 and have lined up a new slate of judges to decide the $25,000 Stan Bergstein Writing Award.

Legendary racecaller Trevor Denman and Hall of Fame jockey Chris McCarron will join esteemed Turf writers Neil Milbert, Michael Veitch and Maryjean Wall in selecting a winner from a group of finalists compiled by Team Valor. Any story about horse racing that appears in a North American-based publication or website between Nov. 2, 2015 and Nov. 1, 2016 will be eligible for the fifth annual award.

“This is a great group of judges,” said Jeff Lowe, Team Valor’s media director. “I think the perspectives of Trevor Denman and Chris McCarron are really important to go along with three Turf writers who know their craft and the sport of horse racing so well with their many decades of experience.”

Denman recently stepped down as the voice of Santa Anita Park but will continue to man the announcer’s booth at Del Mar. He called many a winner booted home by McCarron, who retired in 2002 and founded the North American Racing Academy in Kentucky.

Milbert covered the horse racing beat for the Chicago Tribune from 1970 until 2008 and still does freelance work for the paper. Veitch has been a Turf writer for the Saratogian since 1979. Wall is an author after serving for 35 years at the helm of racing coverage for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Team Valor welcomes story submissions to jeff@teamvalor.com.