Article about solar storm, one failing to win award (4-3)
I believe the answer is:
also-ran
'one failing to win award' is the definition.
(competitor failing to come first, second or third)
'article about solar storm' is the wordplay.
'article' becomes 'an' (indefinite article).
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'storm' is an anagram indicator.
'solar' with letters rearranged gives 'lsora'.
'an' going around 'lsora' is 'ALSO-RAN'.
(Other definitions for also-ran that I've seen before include "Race loser" , "One of the losers" , "Unsuccessful competitor" , "Not placed in first three finishers" , "Not placed among the leaders" .)