ESPN, NY-based PEN writers organization create award for best sports book; winner gets $5,000

ESPN, NY writers organization create sports award

NEW YORK — ESPN and a leading writers organization agree: Sports stories can be literature.

The Bristol, Conn.-based cable television sports network and the New York-based PEN American Center announced Tuesday the formation of the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing. The award will be given annually for the best nonfiction sports book.

Eligible works “should be of a biographical, investigative, historical or analytical nature and of the strongest literary character.”

The author of the winning book will receive $5,000.