Owen Lewis wins 2026 Tom Perrotta Prize
The International Tennis Writers’ Association (ITWA) is delighted to announce that Owen Lewis has been awarded the 2026 Tom Perrotta Prize for Tennis Journalism.
The annual prize, which was inaugurated in 2022, is awarded to a writer aged 35 or under who shows excellence in tennis journalism. It includes a cash prize of $2000 and will be presented on the eve of the US Open in New York. A panel of five leading tennis journalists judged the entries blind.
Owen is a 24-year-old freelance writer from the United States, based in Boston, whose work has been published in outlets worldwide, including The Guardian, The Athletic, The Second Serve and Defector.
Each applicant submitted two articles. Owen’s first was a piece about the intense reaction he received on social media at the Australian Open when he asked a number of American players about their reaction to the war with Iran. His second was a piece about Jannik Sinner and his seemingly robotic nature.
The award is in memory of the American writer Tom Perrotta, whose exemplary contributions to tennis were curtailed by his untimely death at the age of 44.
“I'm thrilled and honoured to receive this year's Tom Perrotta Prize,” Lewis said. “I never had the privilege of meeting Tom, but the care and craft in his stories and the fond remembrances by his colleagues make clear what a positive and hardworking presence he was in both friendship and the press room.
“I'm grateful to his family and the judging panel for creating and giving out the prize – there aren't many young tennis writers left, or much money left in the business, and the Tom Perrotta prize is such a lovely incentive for us to keep writing about this amazing sport, as well as motivating us to strive for the high standard Tom set.
“I'm also in debt to my editors on the stories I submitted: Tom Ley at Defector, who encouraged me to keep writing when the reporting for one of my articles spiralled out of control, and Alan Dean at n+1, for taking a chance on the long submission I sent him about a sport literary magazines don't often cover.”
ITWA would like to thank all those who entered and to the members of the judging panel for their time and expertise. The standard of entries was very high.
The Association of Tennis Professionals, The Women’s Tennis Association, The International Tennis Federation and ITWA co-sponsor the prize.
Details of how to enter the competition in 2027 will be announced in due course.