By Jeff Rosen
APSE First Vice President
Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times won first place in Column Writing in the Associated Press Sports Editors 2016 contest’s Over-175,000 circulation category.
Dan Wetzel of Yahoo was runner-up to Plaschke, with Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald placing third.
Plaschke will be presented a first-place plaque at the 2017 APSE banquet in June. The banquet and awards dinner concludes the APSE Summer Conference in New Orleans.
Sports editors submitted a total of 56 entries in the large-organization Columns category this year. The contest is open to APSE members. Click here to join.
Contest chair Jeff Rosen and fellow APSE officers Tommy Deas, John Bednarowski and Robert Gagliardi numbered each entry, assuring they had been stripped of headlines, graphics, bylines and any other element that would identify the writer or news organization.
In February, preliminary judges at the APSE Winter Conference in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., and off-site around the country selected a top 10 in this category, with each judge ranking the entries in order from 1 to 10 separately on a secret ballot. Entries were given 10 points for a first-place vote, nine points for second and so on down to one point for a 10th-place vote. The final 10 were then given to a second judging group, which ranked the entries 1-10 in the same fashion. The winner and final rankings were determined by tallying the two sets of ballots.
The winners in each category will receive a plaque at the 2017 APSE Summer Conference at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans June 26-29. The second- through 10th-place entrants will receive frameable certificates. (Click here to register for the conference.)
Judges evaluated the column entries on style, writing quality, originality and local appeal.
Here is the top 10, with links to writers’ Twitter pages (where applicable), APSE member websites and winning entries.
1- Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, 46 points, one first-place vote
Kobe Bryant goes out shots blazing in magical finish, even for him
He has always been there for fans, and now writer Joe Resnick receives honors he earned
Groundskeeper Ted Haller built a Little League community from the ground up in Glendora
Transgender teenage ballplayer at Santa Monica prep school spreads message of hope and acceptance
His job is a hunt-and-peck type of thing at Dodger Stadium
2- Dan Wetzel, Yahoo, 41 points
Roger Goodell owes Tom Brady an apology
Penn State’s scapegoat in Sandusky saga finally gets some redemption against university
Starring now in Brazil’s theater of the absurd: Ryan Lochte’s one-act play of stupidity
Pat Summitt’s legacy as champion of female sports will forever endure
Olympics 2016: So Team USA walks into a Rio brothel, and …
3- Armando Salguero, Miami Herald, 40 points, two first-place votes
Kiko Alonso turns ‘bad blood’ for Colin Kaepernick into great performance
Unrepentant hypocrite Colin Kaepernick defends Fidel Castro
Miami’s legendary family returns to the Super Bowl with the Carolina Panthers’ Mike Shula
After this latest loss, it’s the Dolphins players who are on notice
‘My heart breaks’: Team’s reaction shows true worth of Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill
4- Jeff Passan, Yahoo, 39 points, two first-place votes
The tragic final night of Jose Fernandez’s life
Meet the Olympic handball team made up almost exclusively of well-paid foreigners
The colossal, inexplicable mistake of Buck Showalter
The hypocrisy of Tony La Russa and the understandable fears of black baseball players
What the iconic 1989 Ken Griffey Jr. Upper Deck card means to a generation of fans
5- Ian O’Connor, ESPN, 35 points
Laremy Tunsil didn’t deserve draft-night humiliation
You can knock Colin Kaepernick — don’t call him un-American
The officials blew it, but so did Cam Newton’s team on Thursday
The force that drove Arnold Palmer
Story of Ralph Branca and Jackie Robinson still resonates
6- Jerry Brewer, Washington Post, 30 points, one first-place vote
I’m black and I can’t swim. Simone Manuel showed America why it must change.
The agony of Jordan Burroughs’s Olympic defeat
The title wait is finally over for Cleveland, and a native son helps end it
Muhammad Ali was world-famous, but Louisville knew him in a special way
Absent the thrill of victory, Redskins and Bengals provide the absurdity of the tie
7- Mitch Albom, Detroit Free Press, 28 points
Calvin Johnson leaves us wanting more
Pavel Datsyuk says he will leave the Red Wings after playoffs
In Gordie Howe, a legend passes, but stories remain
Inside Jim Harbaugh’s nonstop, high-octane world
Anthem protesters may want to look at a calendar
8- Martin Fennelly, Tampa Bay Times, 25 points
Jameis Winston, The Letter and the lost art of writing it down
A police stop story that might surprise you
Monsignor Laurence Higgins had strong sports background
Fennelly: College is definitely Greg Schiano’s comfort zone
Fennelly: NASCAR’s Jimmie Johnson goes from last to legend
9- TIE Vahe Gregorian, The Kansas City Star, 23 points
As Tyreek Hill emerges as a playmaker, so does dilemma for Chiefs fans
City Police Department’s PAL program is changing lives
K-State basketball assistant mourns loss of 15-year-old son, his ‘sweet prince’
MU’s bronze-medal wrestler J’den Cox represents his country well
Mom and Dad are the real MVPs of cancer survivor Eric Berry’s epic homecoming
9- TIE Sam Mellinger, The Kansas City Star, 23 points
Why no amount of ‘due diligence’ can predict Tyreek Hill’s future with the Chiefs
Concussed: How the NFL failed Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith
David Glass’ stance on 2017 payroll shortchanges Royals’ championship core
Hungry Pig Right: How the 346-pound Dontari Poe found himself scoring a Chiefs touchdown
How a simple play by KU won one of the greatest college basketball games you’ll ever see
