XENIA – Xenia Daily Gazette and Fairborn Daily Herald managing editor Scott Halasz has been named a finalist for best sports feature writer and best feature writer in Division I of the Ohio Associated Press Media Editors’ 2021 newspaper contest.

The awards in actual order of finish — first, second and third places — will be announced along with the General Excellence, Hall of Fame, Rising Star, and First Amendment winners during an awards program in April.

Forty-eight daily newspapers submitted 1,302 entries in the contest, which featured news and sports stories, features, editorials, columns, graphics and photos from 2020. Xenia Daily Gazette and Fairborn Daily Herald entries were submitted in Division I, which is for newspapers with circulations up to 7,999 and contains the most newspapers.

Entries were judged by editors from The Detroit News and The Detroit Free Press, Division V; The Grand Haven (Michigan) Tribune, Division IV; The McComb Daily (Michigan), Division III; Mount Pleasant (Michigan) Morning Sun, and MLive Media Group, Division II; The Holland (Michigan) Sentinel and the Alpena (Michigan) News, Division I.

Last year Halasz finished second in the best sports writer category.