Alex Zietlow

Journalist: The Charlotte Observer (August 2022 - Present)

United States

As a sports reporter for The Charlotte Observer since August 2022, I write about NASCAR, Charlotte FC and the ways in which sports otherwise intersect with life in the Charlotte area. I hope the stories enclosed below show my versatility and strength as a writer. Please reach out with any and all inquiries. And thanks for reading!
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WRITING AWARDS/RECOGNITION

— I was one of four writers nominated for the 2021 U.S. Basketball Writers Association's Rising Star Award, which annually honors a college basketball reporter younger than 30 for his/her/their excellence in covering college basketball. (Other nominees included writers from national publications such as The Washington Post and The Athletic.)

See official press release here: https://www.sportswriters.net/usbwa/news/2022/03/07/usbwa-names-jim-oconnell-rising-star-award-winners

— Top-10 Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) award for Short Feature in 2021

— Top-10 APSE award for Beat Writing (a collection of work on Winthrop athletics) in 2021

— Nine South Carolina Press Association (SCPA) awards between 2019-21, including five first-place finishes: Profile Feature Writing or Story (2021), Education Beat Reporting (2021) and Sports Enterprise Reporting (2019, 2020, 2021)

— One North Carolina Press Association (NCPA) award during my one summer interning for The News & Observer in Raleigh: First place in Sports Feature Writing (2019)
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Please feel free to contact me at [email protected].

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Portfolio

Impactful Enterprise

The Charlotte Observer
10/07/2022
Latino fans have helped deliver Charlotte FC its magic. Along the way, they found home.

Somewhere in the pre-match hoopla, you’ll find Hector Cortes. He’s soaked in sweat. A Mexican national flag drapes down his back like a cape. He’s wearing a pair of powder blue-rimmed sunglasses and an iconic homemade Charlotte FC sombrero. When he stands, he’s an intimidating 6 feet, 5 inches with a build like a Carolina Panthers offensive lineman — but even now, as he sits at a peeling picnic table on a muggy August evening in uptown Charlotte, surrounded by friends and fans, he still...

The Daily Tar Heel
11/07/2018
'Walking on eggshells': Two years later, UNC publishes data from diversity survey

Fitzhugh Brundage, a history professor at UNC, said he's perceived that the University has been playing catch-up for the past six years. "I think this catch-up is partially tied to a risk-averse administration and a political environment in which the chancellor and others must be very concerned that the University will be punished by the state legislature," Brundage said.

The Herald
03/09/2021
How NCAA tournament run is a financial boost in a year when Winthrop needs it most

He wasn't decked out in a Big South championship T-shirt, nor did he dance at center court with the Big South championship trophy or climb the ladder and snip off a piece of net that hung in the Winthrop Coliseum. But Winthrop athletic director Ken Halpin, who watched Sunday's celebration from the sideline, knew how special this win was.

Features

The Herald
11/21/2019
'He's there with us': Devastating loss inspires Rock Hill SC football team

On the morning of Aug. 9, Raseac Myles sat in the South Pointe gym with a blank stare. He heard the hum of the air conditioner and the clicking sound as the double doors opened and closed. Every foot step echoed. Some of Myles’ football teammates, spread along the red and gray bleachers, were crying. Some were confused. No one knew what to say.

The Herald
02/06/2022
Pat Good: A new father, an undersized guard and Winthrop's ultimate comeback kid

What makes Good great can be found in the video of shots like these — those that show off crossovers, vertical leaps and muted celebrations. His play adequately represents itself. But there’s an extra element that makes Good valuable for Winthrop: He is a big reason why the Eagles (15-8, 8-2 Big South) are among the luckiest college basketball teams in the country.

The Herald
02/20/2022
Clinton College, a Rock Hill haven for hoop dreams, is in midst of special season

Pistol slip! Pistol slip! Dee Frazier can enliven a gym with his voice, one that booms and cuts like only a New York native's can. And he's doing it now. It's a Wednesday afternoon in January, a few hours before Clinton College's first game in over a month, and the team is running through plays it'll use later that night.

The Daily Tar Heel
08/23/2018
UNC's legacy of slavery doesn't end with Silent Sam

He knew that the slave legacy wouldn't dissolve with the statue's removal. He knows the solution still needs direction. But on Tuesday afternoon, senior Nicho Stevens walked up to the remains of Silent Sam by himself.

Favorites

The Herald
06/26/2021
Year of change, loss, hope ends at high school graduations in Rock Hill, Tri-County

You can't help but notice the catharsis. Perhaps it happens every year. After sitting quietly the whole graduation ceremony (per rule and custom), and after watching the final diploma-receiving senior cross the stage and shake their principal's hand, it happens: Parents and relatives and teachers and everyone else finally release their prideful energy.

The Charlotte Observer
10/27/2022
Casey Kirwan wins Dale Earnhardt Jr. trophy to punctuate milestone year in iRacing

As Casey Kirwan took the victory lap of all victory laps around the virtual track, someone from his XSET team sprinted on stage and excitedly shook him, as if to ask Kirwan: Can you believe this?! ... Tuesday’s race punctuated another milestone year in the world of iRacing. And that was evident within the Hall of Fame’s walls.

UNC Media Hub
02/19/2019
A clash of cultures: An immigrant's son searches for his place in America

Story by: Alex Zietlow Video by: Kathryn Macomson Photos by: Callie Williams CARY, North Carolina - Laid out on the fully-reclined driver seat in his 2003 Honda Accord, R.J. Singh took off his sunglasses and rubbed his eyes awake. He was somewhere in Indianapolis at a truck stop, a setting he had grown comfortable with over the...

Washington Post
12/06/2021
Georgetown doesn't measure up during an 80-67 loss at South Carolina

Placeholder while article actions load COLUMBIA, S.C. - During the final media timeout of Sunday's game at South Carolina, with his team reeling amid a stretch that effectively ended any comeback hopes, Georgetown Coach Patrick Ewing made it clear that he had had enough.