This week it was announced that Texas Monthly‘s September 2022 cover story, about the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, by writer-at-large Sarah Hepola, will be featured in The Year’s Best Sports Writing 2023. Edited by Richard Deitsch and published by Triumph Books, The Year’s Best Sports Writing 2023 is a curated anthology of exemplary sportswriting published during the past year in newspapers, magazines, and digital publications.
Hepola’s essay, which originally appeared in print with the headline “A Half Century of High Kicks and Hot Pants,” was the capstone of a year-long project for her. Hepola was the writer and host of America’s Girls, a limited-series podcast delving into the history and cultural influence of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders; she also wrote additional digital articles that further explored the themes of each episode. The print cover story, podcast, and digital articles were recognized earlier this year as a finalist in the multiplatform storytelling category of the City and Regional Magazine Awards. Executive editor J.K. Nickell, who edited Hepola’s work on the cheerleaders, describes “A Half Century of High Kicks and Hot Pants” as “a deeply researched, witty, and incisive reckoning with one of America’s most iconic cultural institutions. The recognition Sarah’s now receiving is richly deserved.”
Though The Year’s Best Sports Writing 2023 won’t be out until October 3, it is available for preorder now on Amazon or anywhere books are sold.
