Candace Buckner’s APSE win Is more than history—it’s representation in action

When Candace Buckner began her career as a columnist, Kurt Streeter of The New York Times won Division A Columns in the 2020 APSE Contest. Upon seeing this, she took a screenshot of the story to keep in her phone as inspiration because it was a goal she wanted to strive for.

Four years later, Buckner achieved her goal, becoming the first Black woman to receive the award. Buckner, a 2001 SJI alum, said this achievement is a blessing. 

“It really is a dream come true,” Buckner said. “Something that I truly, truly desired the moment I became a sports journalist.”

In her columns for The Washington Post, Buckner has written opinions that go beyond the surface and reveal different perspectives behind stories of the world’s marveled athletes. Her editor, Dan Steinberg, attributed her fresh, witty writing style as a factor that sets her apart from others. 

“It feels like kind of an open conversation with an interesting thinker,” Steinberg said. “I think to me the biggest thing, which kind of encompasses both of those other things, is that you don’t know what you’re going to get. It’s never predictable, and it’s never repetitive.” 

Of Buckner’s four winning columns, she wrote opinions ranging from an emotional piece about Brittney Griner at the 2024 Olympics, Dolphins’ wide receiver Tyreek Hill’s run in with Miami-Dade police,  a fun, playful profile on Ace Flagg, Cooper Flagg’s fraternal twin, and discourse on WNBA rising star Caitlin Clark. 

Buckner described the Brittney Griner piece to be the most meaningful to her as she witnessed Griner shed tears during the national anthem, despite speaking up about racial discrimination in the country. 

Buckner could have written a story about the USA women’s team winning, but instead she chose to write about this and how that reaction had a deeper meaning. 

“Society is reflected in sports,” Buckner said. “It looks like a playground, but there’s some serious things that happen in the world of sports because human beings are in it.”

This statement reflects Buckner’s columns. She focuses her columns on culture, society, and gender within the world of sports. 

Buckner is currently the only Black woman who works as a columnist at a major publication. Previously, there were five black women columnists. 

Shalise Manza Young, former Yahoo Sports columnist, experienced firsthand what it was like being one of few Black women who were columnists and navigating the sports journalism industry. 

With Buckner’s APSE win, Young hopes this inspires young, Black women to become writers. 

“Maybe it just pushes them to say, ‘I can do it because it’s been done,’” Young said. “And it’s being done at a high level.”

Similarly, Buckner understands the integral role representation plays with people seeing her achieve accolades in her field and wants to be a role model. Even though Buckner is excited about her win, she thinks the industry needs to “get more folks into this pipeline.”

“I wanted this job because I thought to see my face, black college writers, black women in college to say, okay I can do this too,” Buckner said.