By Robert Gagliardi
APSE Third Vice President
Austin Meek of The Register-Guard in Eugene, Ore., won first place in the Associated Press Sports Editors 2016 contest in the Columns category for the 30,000-75,000 circulation category.
Meek won for his portfolio of five columns. He will be presented a first-place plaque at the 2017 APSE banquet. The banquet and awards dinner will conclude the APSE Summer Conference, which takes place June 26-29 at The Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans.
Will Sammon of The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., and Kirk Wessler of the Peoria Journal Star tied for second place.
Sports editors in the 30,00075,000 category submitted 71 entries in the column writing category. The contest is open to APSE members. Click here to join.
Contest chair Jeff Rosen and fellow APSE officers Tommy Deas, 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, 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 given to a second judging group, which ranked the entries 1-10 in the same fashion. The winner and final rankings are determined by tallying the ballots.
The Columns category is judged based on style, writing quality, originality and local appeal.
The top 10 is listed below, with links to writers’ Twitter pages, APSE member websites and winning entries.
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Austin Meek,The Register-Guard, 47 points (1 first-place vote)
Willie Taggart isn’t Chip Kelly, and that’s good news
Oregon Ducks look for a port in the storm
Go live, not tape delay? That’s rich
A reign long in the making
One last run to the finish line among friends
2t. Will Sammon,The Clarion-Ledger, 41 points (1 first-place vote)
Student-athletes lose in satellite camp ruling
Let’s not have 45-0 high school baseball games
Akers remains a class act throughout process
Only positives come from new pitch limits
Don’t count out MRA quarterback Hayden Davis
2t. Kirk Wessler, Peoria Journal Star, 41 points (1 first-place vote)
Villanova had right stuff in epic title game
Shaun Livingston and the friendship worth more than $1 million
On Kaepernick, slobs and the national anthem
Ben Zobrist’s magical MVP World Series
Peoria High state champs lay waste to rivals, conventional wisdom
4t. Paul Klee, The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.), 39 points (3 first-place votes)
John Elway recalls a White House trip gone bad
CSU football player not defined by Aurora theater shooting
Broncos’ Super Bowl parade a big slice of ‘Colfax and Heaven’
Aqib Talib tells real truth on Donald Trump’s ‘locker room’ comments
In domestic violence case, Colorado Rockies do the right thing
4t. Ed Hardin, Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record, 39 points
Another lesson in boater safety, summer fun
UNC v NCAA is just getting started
Swofford provides the voice that needed to be heard
Panthers, Charlotte deserved a day off
Eastern NC continues to wade through flooding leftover from Matthew
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David Ramsey, The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.), 28 points
Goodbye, Carson Bird
Brandon Marshall takes brave stand while kneeling during national anthem
Lochte told a lie America would believe
Leave Hope Solo alone. She belongs in front of our American soccer net
Yes, Muhammad Ali inspired and infuriated. That’s what great Americans do
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Bud Poliquin, Syracuse Media Group, 27 points
Secret Service has some questions after Carrier Dome marriage proposal
Mark Coyle’s abrupt departure from Syracuse to Minnesota has bad whiff to it
Jim Boeheim was just being honest about Tyler Roberson, he was also being tactless
Syracuse, Louisville chose same punishment; but shenanigans were vastly different
Pearl Washington will forever be a Syracuse Orangeman
8t. Frank Bodani, York (Pa.) Daily Record/Sunday News, 23 points
More than wins, losses for Orioles’ Jack Fisher
Memories of a friend still linger
Penn State to the NBA and so much more
Penn State’s Andre Collins is ‘saving’ NFL lives
Travis Brown made a positive attitude his job
8t. Mark Story, Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader, 23 points
Childhood adversity drives EKU football standout Justin Adekoya
Reaching out to a dying fan, Kentucky Wildcats kicker may have been handed destiny
At Ali’s prayer service, the faces of the world come to say farewell
Even Bear Bryant might have been fired by current SEC standards
Ulis’ season best by UK point guard in Rupp Arena era
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Pete Iorizzo, Times Union (Albany, N.Y.), 22 points
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