The election period for APSE third vice president is open. The third vice president will assume office at the concluding meeting of the summer conference in June and serve a two-year term.
Each news organization with circulation under 40,000 has one vote, and the deadline is April 30.
To vote, send your choice to Executive Director Jack Berninger at jackapse@aol.com.
Bios of the candidates – John Bednarowski, Robert Gagliardi and Mike Szvetitz — are below in alphabetical order.
John Bednarowski
News organization: Marietta (Ga.) Daily Journal
Background: In 2006, the Marietta Daily Journal gave me a chance to be a sports editor, and since my arrival we have taken prep and local sports coverage to a new level in print, online and through social media.
Cobb Football Friday, our high school football franchise, along with Kickoff, our annual football preview issues have become a driving force and the advertising revenue they generate have allowed us to build our section and department.
I began my career while still in college at UAB and worked as a stringer for current APSE president Tim Stephens at the now-defunct Birmingham Post Herald. From there I went to the St. Clair News-Aegis in Pell City, Ala., where I received the true taste of what it is like to work for a small city newspaper. In addition to being a one-man sports department, I got my fill of local government, community features and advertorials.
After leaving the News-Aegis in the summer of 2003, I worked as a freelance writer for the Birmingham News and then was hired as a sports writer at the Gadsden Times in Gadsden, Ala. I was the final reporter hired by Alabama sports writing legend Jimmy Smothers.
APSE experience: Joined APSE in 2007. I recently completed my two-year term as Southeast Region Chairman, and currently serving on the scholarship and convention committees.
I have been a contest judge the past six years and hopefully will attend my sixth national convention in Washington. At the annual conventions, I have had the privilege of serving on panels and moderating different workshops.
Objective: There has not been a more important time to be good at what we do and how we do it. Not only do we have to maintain a healthy print and online product, but we also have to figure out the best way to serve our mobile readers.
As our industry continues to evolve, we have to make sure that APSE evolves with it. As a group, we need foresee current trends and share the ideas that come from them. We need to make sure our organization maximizes its membership opportunities by finding new members, recruit former members back into the fold, and reach out to the younger generations that are joining our profession.
Quotable: “Keep working every day for the reader.”
Robert Gagliardi
News organization: Wyoming Tribune Eagle/WyoSports
Background: Started at the Wyoming Tribune Eagle in December of 1993 and promoted to sports editor in 2002. In 2009, the sports departments of the WTE and Laramie Boomerang merged to form WyoSports, which I have been editor and have held the title of senior editor since June of 2012. Along with the managerial duties, I cover the organization's most prolific beat — the University of Wyoming.
APSE experience: Have been a member for nearly 15 years. Has attended the winter conference the last four years as a judge, and have helped conduct workshops a the summer conference each of the last two years.
Objective: To continue the fine work past leaders have demonstrated within the organization, and help get the word out of how valuable an asset APSE is to all sports journalists. It is vital that we continue to strive for more members, new members and have a voice for smaller papers and organizations that do a lot of good work throughout the country. Our industry is changing every day and it is important we adapt to those changes while still promoting and recognizing good work, and address those changes among our smaller outlets.
Quotable: "This organization has helped me grow as a journalist, manager and writer so much that it is difficult to put into words. I would not be where I am today, nor would my employer, had it not been for the people at APSE. I not only want to spread APSE's word and mission, but help it grow and let smaller papers know they are just as vital and important to what we do as the big papers and organizations out there.”
Mike Szvetitz
News organization: Opelika-Auburn (Ala.) News
Background: I’ve been the sports editor of the Opelika-Auburn News for the past 10 years. I got my start in sports as a prep writer at the Highlands (Fla.) Today just after graduating from Wingate (N.C.) University in May 2000. Within six months, I was named the sports editor of the Highlands Today and spent four years in that role before heading to the Opelika-Auburn News.
In the past four years, the Opelika-Auburn News has won the Grand Slam three times, including the past two years, and the Triple Crown. We’ve racked up almost 30 total awards, including 11 overall and seven writing awards this past judging cycle. But enough about me …
… Wait, more about me …
APSE experience: I’ve been a member of APSE since 2009, which has been one of the best professional decisions of my career, and not just because Todd M. Adams told me to say that. I am currently the APSE’s Southeast Region chairman, serving as the vice chairman last year.
Objective: My goal is to help the smaller, community papers become the best they can be. If that sounds like an Army slogan, it should. We’ve got so many great, quality community papers in this country with loyal readerships. Sports editors are understaffed and underfunded and underpaid, yet they keep showing up every day wanting to do good work. And they do. They do excellent work.
My father always told me not to let your circumstances become your excuses. (That, and don’t eat yellow snow.) That’s why I want to give the smaller papers and editors all the help and resources they need to take the next step — to get there paper to an elite level, while bringing in talented writers to continue that trajectory. I don’t want them to settle for less because of what they lack. I want to help all of us use what we have — plus the resources and contacts and expertise of the APSE — to have the best section, website and social media presence possible. If that sounds Pollyannaish, so be it. I loved those books growing up.
I also want to build a network of small-paper sports editors that can help each other in all aspects of the job, to be a sounding board for ideas, problems or just to vent. Having that with other sports editors has been vital to my career (and my sanity).
Just because we’re small papers with small staffs, doesn’t mean we can’t do big-time work. Look at Tommy Deas and his crew at the Tuscaloosa News, or Robert Gagliardi from the Wyoming Tribune Eagle and John Bednarowski of the Marietta Daily Journal. There’s a reason Tommy is finishing up his term as third VP, and while the latter two are also in the running for the same position. They are small-paper sports editors with big-time goals and the unending desire to reach them. And they aren’t the only ones.
Quotable: “In dreams begin responsibility.”
