Privman, Novak win BC writing awards

Jay Privman of Daily Racing Form and Claire Novak of the BloodHorse each won 2015 Breeders’ Cup Writing Awards, which were presented to them at the recent National Turf Writers and Broadcasters annual dinner at the Altadena Town and Country Club in Altadena, Calif.

Privman, the veteran national correspondent for Daily Racing Form, won the Joe Hirsch Award for outstanding news reporting for his article “American Pharoah goes out a winner in Breeders' Cup Classic,” a story written on deadline about the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland, which appeared on the Daily Racing Form website drf.com on Oct. 31 of last year. In addition to the Hirsch Award, Privman is a six-time winner of the Red Smith Kentucky Derby Writing Contest among numerous other writing awards.

Novak, editor of the BloodHorse Daily edition, won the Bill Leggett Award winner for outstanding feature writing for “Obviously Sentimental," a story about the late Mike Mitchell, who trained the gelding Obviously for most of runner’s career. Obviously won this year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. Novak’s article appeared in the Oct. 24, 2015, edition of the BloodHorse.