By Jeff Rosen,
APSE First Vice President
Tim Brown of Yahoo won first place in the Associated Press Sports Editors 2016 contest in Beat Writing for the Over 175,000 circulation category.
He will be presented a first-place plaque at the 2017 APSE banquet. The banquet and awards dinner concludes the June APSE Summer Conference in New Orleans.
Brown edged runner-up Scott Miller of Bleacher Report and third-place finisher Matthew Stanmyre of the Newark Star-Ledger.
Sports editors in the Over-175,000 Beat Writing category submitted a total of 50 entries this year. Each entry consisted of five parts: at least one breaking news story; one event or game coverage story; one enterprise piece; and two wild-card stories from any of the aforementioned categories (or other stories or analysis related to the beat).
The contest is open each year 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.
Then, 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 winner 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 writers will receive frameable certificates. (Click here to register for the conference.)
In the Beat Writing category, judges considered how each entrant’s combined submissions demonstrated excellence on the beat. Factors evaluated included authority on the beat, audience engagement and innovation.
The top 10 entries are listed below, with links to writers’ Twitter pages, APSE member websites and winning entries.
NLDS Game 5: Clayton Kershaw, the unlikeliest of closers
An oral history of Kirk Gibson’s 1988 World Series home run
Pete Rose petitions Hall of Fame for inclusion on ballots in lengthy letter
‘The chicken runs at midnight’
Alex Rodriguez’s complicated career ends … for now
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Scott Miller, Bleacher Report, 41 points
Brewers’ David Denson hopes coming out paves way to achieving MLB dream
Rain delay speech helps end drought as Chicago Cubs win historic World Series
Big man, big personality: The oral history of David Ortiz’s MLB adventure
CONFESSIONS OF A STEROID PIONEER
Jose Fernandez’s joy, passion create lasting memories on tragic day
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Matthew Stanmyre, Newark Star-Ledger, 40 points
Using controversial recipe, coach cooks up champion not everyone can stomach
How 2 strangers saved N.J. pitching legend, ex-Yankee Willie Banks from self-destruction
‘Unprecedented’ hand-foot-and-mouth disease outbreak reaches fourth school district
Members of Newark football team kneel, join national anthem protest
How one-time hoops star Keywon Savage went from prized prospect to dead at 20
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Howard Beck, Bleacher Report, 36 points, one first-place vote
Knicks’ decision to hire Hornacek a surprise, but just what Phil Jackson wanted
After bending NBA to their will, Warriors find basketball magic has its limits
Stuck in standoff over Chris Bosh’s future, NBA to create new medical panels
Frustration with Westbrook sent Durant fleeing, opens door to trouble for NBA
In need of confidence boost, Cavs can take a few lessons from Tyronn Lue
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TIE Barry Svrluga, Washington Post, 34 points, one first-place vote
How Adam LaRoche’s decision to quit quickly became bigger than baseball
Plenty of heroes, no goats: An epic Game 7 finally delivers Cubs a World Series
Theo Epstein broke the jinx in Boston. Now he may finally lift the Cubs’ curse
David Ortiz begins long goodbye to Boston, his improbable second home
Why batting .400 has become baseball’s unhittable benchmark
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TIE Rainer Sabin, AL.com, 34 points
Behind the scenes access with a team that stared down defeat to Alabama
Dynasty architects Nick Saban, Pete Carroll more similar than you’d think
Looking back at Dennis Franchione’s stunning move from Alabama to Texas A&M
Former NFL executive: Blake Barnett’s transfer ‘is going to haunt him’
Inside the secondary meeting that led to Alabama’s pass defense revival against Tennessee
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Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press, 33 points
Could Lions’ Calvin Johnson walk away from the NFL?
Ex-Lions QB Kramer gets help after suicide attempt after years of pain
Detroit Lions LB DeAndre Levy: ‘I have zero plans of retiring’
Lions’ film review: New play, big-time throw set up Matt Prater FG
Birkett: Everything is coming together for Detroit Lions
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Baxter Holmes, ESPN, 27 points
Sources: Lakers teammates ‘isolating’ D’Angelo Russell after video surfaces
Kobe Bryant goes out in a blaze of jump shots and glory
The other greatest team in Bay Area history
The Daily Reanimation of Kobe Bryant
The making of D’Angelo Russell
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Marc J. Spears, The Undefeated, 24 points
‘Strength In Numbers’ convinced Kevin Durant to join Warriors
Draymond Green Finals diary, Part 24
Stephon Marbury: Remade in China
The league’s white players talk about what it’s like to be the minority
Can’t be defeated: The Shaun Livingston story
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Dan Wolken, USA Today, 13 points
