APSE Class D Members,
The election period for APSE third vice-president is open. The deadline to vote is Friday, April 13.
The third V-P serves a two-year term and represents APSE’s smallest member organizations. Each member organization with a circulation under 40,000 or under 250,000 unique monthly visitors if a website is eligible to vote. Each organization casts one vote. So for those with more than one member, please confer and cast one consensus vote.
The second vice-president will assume office at the closing meeting of the summer conference in June.
Email your vote to: billapse707@gmail.com
Bios of the candidates — Emily Horos, Justin Pelletier and Dan Spears — are listed below in alphabetical order.
EMILY J. HOROS
CURRENT POSITION: Sports Editor, American News (Aberdeen, S.D.)
JOURNALISM BACKGROUND: Since August 2015, I have been the sports editor at the American News. During my time here, we 
have expanded our coverage of college football and made a push toward digital platforms and video. Prior to my move to South Dakota, I served as the sports editor at the Cherokee Tribune (Canton, Ga.) and a sports writer at the Marietta (Ga.) Daily Journal. Other industry experience includes a stint as a design editor at the Bradenton (Fla.) Herald and as the assistant sports editor at the Daily Journal (Seneca, S.C.). I got my start in journalism as a photographer at a weekly in Easley, S.C. and later established myself as a freelance photographer with clients including the Associated Press, The New York Times and the Orlando Sentinel. I am scheduled to graduate in May from South Dakota State with a Master’s in Mass Communications.
APSE EXPERIENCE: I was a member of the 2013 APSE Diversity Fellowship class. APSE judge for four years and former vice-chair of the Southeast Region. I will be attending my fifth summer convention in Nashville this summer. The APSE and the connections I made through it helped me go from a one-person sports department to overseeing a staff of four in less than two years. I currently serve as the chairperson of the Great Lakes Region and am also a member of the Diversity Committee.
OBJECTIVE: In order to not only maintain, but increase membership, the APSE needs to find ways to offer more to its members, particularly small papers. Regions need to look for a way to involve more publications and show the value of being a member. As a sports editor at not only a small paper but a rural one, I have found the importance of getting information to readers that are spread over a large coverage area. I believe small papers need to band together and share the techniques we have learned to make our work more efficient. Digital journalism is a big part of that, but I have learned that even it isn’t a perfect solution. As a representative of small newspapers, I would work to not only bring more publications into the fold, but create a stronger network of members. There are two small colleges in my coverage area with hundreds of athletes. I know there are sports editors at papers around the country that would like the features we have produced on some of these student-athletes. I would like to build a network to connect these two pieces so everyone, especially the readers, can get more.
QUOTABLE: “You have to learn to play with what you’ve got.”
JUSTIN PELLETIER
CURRENT POSITION: Managing Editor, Nights/Sports/Digital, Sun Journal, Lewiston, Maine
JOURNALISM BACKGROUND: I started freelancing college games
for my hometown paper in 1998, while still in school. After graduating with a journalism degree from Boston University and taking a much-needed year off to drive across the country (twice!), I started full time with that same hometown paper, the Sun Journal in Lewiston, Maine, in March of 2002. In 2007, while still on the main hockey beat, I received a promotion to Assistant Sports Editor, Online. In 2012, I assumed the role of Sports Editor, and in 2016 I was promoted to managing Editor for Nights, Sports and Digital, still at the Sun Journal. In addition to overseeing sports, I now oversee the nightside operation to include copy desk and pagination, and also the digital department and implementation of digital strategies across the newsroom. Among the beats I have covered are Division I college sports, top-level junior hockey and extensive preps, along with some minor-pro hockey.
APSE EXPERIENCE: Since assuming Sports Editor duties in 2012, I have attended each summer and winter judging conference (12 consecutive, as of Nashville in June), and almost every regional conference (in the Northeast, we have had two per year). If weather or distance did not allow, I made sure to call or Skype in to the meetings. I am currently the Northeast region vice chair, and the chair of the contest committee. I have also been active with the grassroots committee in the past.
OBJECTIVE: The Third Vice President role is very important in this organization. While our recent track record has seen “better-than-average” representation for smaller new organizations at the officers level, the position has been a key factor not only in achieving that, but maintaining that through our organization’s history. As your Third VP, I would work closely with the grassroots and other committees to retain and grow membership at the small-newspaper level. As a member of the contest committee, I have continued to fight for a fair playing field in the contest for papers of all sizes, and I hope to work closely with the contest chair and contest committee members to make sure that continues, as well. Growing membership has to be our top priority, and the reorganization of APSE as a whole to better reflect the changing mission of our member organizations has to be a close second. With the growing number of organizations falling into the “smaller” ranks, it will be vital that this demographic within APSE leads the charge.
QUOTABLE: “Work consists of what a body is obliged to do. Play consists of what a body is not obliged to do.” — Mark Twain.
At the root of what we do, why we all started, is the fact that none of us ever really wanted to “work” for a living. We don’t “have” to do what we do, we “want” to do what we do. And to do it with the companionship of those in our shops, and those in the APSE network, just adds to everything. Yes, we are all beholden to our jobs, and yes, we all need to earn a paycheck, but down deep, work is play. And what a playground we have.
DAN SPEARS
CURRENT POSITION: Assistant Managing Editor, Wilmington StarNews. That’s an ambiguous title, Dan. What do you do? I now oversee two sports editors for four papers (including Wilmington) as well as digital projects, and I also coordinate statewide sports coverage for GateHouse’s papers in the Carolinas
.JOURNALISM BACKGROUND: Wilmington StarNews (AME, May 2017-present; Sports Editor, September 2008-May 2017; Asst.
Sports Editor, August 2006-September 2008). Augusta Chronicle (Asst. Sports Editor, July 2002-August 2006). The Herald-Mail, Hagerstown, Md. (preps & desk, February 1998-July 2002). The Independent-Mail, Anderson, S.C. (sports copy desk & design, May 1995-February 1998)
APSE EXPERIENCE: Judging since 2014 (or ’13 … It’s one of those two). Summer convention attendee multiple times over, first one in 2006. Chief laugher at Lisa Wilson’s decisions during Cards Against Humanity in any Hospitality Room since 2015. Current Atlantic Coast region chair.
OBJECTIVE: Reinforce our ability to provide opportunity and mentoring for our smallest organizations and the wide variety of journalists who work in those places. What technology hurdles can they overcome with more feedback and training they might not be able to get in-house? In addition, we also have a growing number of papers falling into our smallest circulation levels — what do they need to continue to be effective in their communities?
QUOTABLE: ”No, we can’t solve every problem. But what can we start fixing today?”
