Journalism pioneer Claire Smith received the Red Smith Award in Las Vegas on Tuesday, a prestigious distinction given annually by the Associated Press Sports Editors that is considered the organization’s highest honor.
Smith is the first Black woman to receive the award, which is presented to a writer or editor who has made major contributions to sports journalism.
Congratulations to @MzCSmith this year’s recipient of the Red Smith Award, @APSE_sportmedia‘s highest honor. Claire is a trailblazer and previous #AWSM Mary Garber Pioneer Award winner. pic.twitter.com/2Qz3s6Eutp
— AWSM (@AWSM_SportMedia) July 11, 2023
Smith, a two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee, was the first woman to work a regular beat in Major League Baseball when she covered the New York Yankees for The Hartford Courant, beginning in 1982.
She became the first national baseball columnist for The New York Times in 1990. She also worked as an editor and a columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer and with ESPN in the coordinating news editor role.
In 2017, Smith won the prestigious J.G. Taylor Spink Award from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, receiving the honor as part of the National Baseball Hall of Fame induction weekend in Cooperstown, New York.
Smith is currently an assistant professor at the Lew Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University, where she’s also the founding executive director of the Claire Smith Center for Sports Media.