Welcome
Incoming president Jeff Rosen introduces himself and:
Outgoing president Tommy Deas
First vice president John Bednarowski
Third vice president Robert Gagliardi
Executive Director Jack Berninger, who will retire at the end of next month
Secretary/Treasurer Bill Eichenberger
We’ve had a great week at The Roosevelt hotel, historic home of our 2017 Summer Conference.
Our time in New Orleans as guests of Joe Schiefelbein and his staff won’t soon be forgotten.
Past presidents present:
Bill Eichenberger, now Bleacher Report then Newsday (2003)
Glen Crevier, The Star Tribune of Minneapolis (2005)
Phil Kaplan, The News Sentinel of Knoxville (2010)
Gerry Ahern, then USA Today Sports Group (2012), now USAT and Golfweek)
Tommy Deas, The Tuscaloosa News
Mike Sherman, then Oklahoman, now Tampa Bay Times (2015)
Region representatives
Atlantic Coast, Steve Hemphill
Great Lakes, Emily Horos
Great Plains, Chris Fickett
Mid-Atlantic, Gary Potosky
Northeast, Justin Pelletier
Northwest, Paul Barrett
Southeast, Dana Sulonen
Southwest, Nic Talbott, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
West, Mark Fowler
Representing the Associated Press: Michael Giarusso
Finances and budget update (Bill Eichenberger)
100 paid members to the New Orleans convention.
2017-18 budget
— Hoping taking $10,700 from rainy day account to help with the budget; that’s a decrease of 7,300 from last year.
— Two committees to help look into generating more revenue; Futures and a Financial committee (newly formed)
Diversity Fellows recognized – will graduate this week: Jane Allison Havsy, Stef Loh, Shauntel Lowe, Diana Nearhos
Sponsors:
The Advocate, USA Today Sports, The Associated Press, Major League Soccer, ESPN
Vendors:
Football Bowl Association, Sugar Bowl, The AP, USA Today Sports Images
Committee updates:
NOTE: Jeff Rosen has made several new committee chair appointments; he will get with each chairperson in next couple weeks to discuss goals and strategies for the year ahead
Conference: Next year St. Petersburg at Poynter. Year after back to Orlando.
2018 is a Winter Olympics year, so we have to go later. That means we will overlap with an auto race in St. Pete. The room rate at the Hampton Inn is $159 rate. Dates are Feb. 24-28, 2018.
2019 we have signed to return to the DoubleTree Inn and Suites in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, the same hotel near Disney where we have had it in recent years. Judging done at hotel
ALSO:
Update on 2018 Summer Conference — we don’t have one, but we’re hopeful.
Commissioners (Gary Potosky)
Nothing new the week of the New Orleans Conference.
Contest (Justin Pelletier)— There will soon be a survey sent to look further into our low entry numbers in the digital contest and in the video and multimedia categories in our writing contest. The talk is that we’ve been evolving into digital news organizations, but that isn’t reflected in contest entries — in one digital category, we had only seven entries this year. In the digital/website contest, we have 76 total entries across all circulation categories.
Reminder about change to be implemented immediately — if your news organization has a website, you are automatically entered into the digital/website contest. Judges will look at your website and compare it to others, with a top 10 and 10 honorable mentions selected in each category. If you haven’t entered and have a paywall, you’ll be given the opportunity to provide a password/username combination so the judges can look deeper — if not, they’ll look at what they can.
So by virtue of being in APSE, you are in the contest. Consider it a benefit of membership.
But we need to look deeper into this problem of low entries in digital categories and see what we have to do to compel people to take interest in something all of our companies say is important.
Diversity (ANGEL RODRIGUEZ LA TIMES)
Nothing new from closing meeting.
UCF students at the conference working on the every two years diversity study that we do: Austin Bloom and Saahil Marfatia.
— Another good year for the diversity program, with Jane Allison Havsy, Stef Loh, Shauntel Lowe and Diana Nearhos set to complete the program on Thursday at this convention.
From Jorge Rojas:
— APSE has applied for a $10,000 grant from Gannett Foundation and we are waiting to see if we’ve been approved. If so, we’ll add two more Fellows and go from 4 to 6 next year.
This year was the first under a $31,000 grant from the Knight Foundation and we are on pace to spend close to $15,000 of it in Year 1. Many past Fellows, such as Ed Guzman, Dana Sulonen and Lynn Worthy, have recently been promoted, and many more are active and making an impact on our organization, so we are happy to see such good progress.
— Jorge Rojas and Angel Rodriguez are switching as Diversity and Olympic Committee chars. Both had interest in the new posts, so they pulled off what Rojas called a “double steal.” (His words, not mine.) Both will remain active in their current committees as well, so it’ll be a win-win.
Scholarship (Phil Kaplan)
Shameless plug for Jorge Rojas, who teamed with former APSE president Jim Jenks to establish AWSM’s Celeste Williams Memorial Scholarship. … But mostly, this is a plug for Celeste, who would have been APSE president had she not had to deal with illness. We miss her dearly.
Futures (Michael Peters, Tulsa World, is new chair of this committee, replacing Glen Crevier, Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
— One goal is to go after some grant money, said new president Jeff Rosen.
Legal affairs and ethics (Gerry Ahern)
Nothing new from opening meeting. Next advisory meeting with the NCAA is coming up in August in regards to football/basketball concerns.
Olympics (Jorge Rojas)
Nothing new.
Mike Sherman asked if committee could see how to help provide membership with coverage from Olympics who can’t attend. Asked to see what wire services or what news organizations provide content/converage.
Outreach (Chris Fickett)
Nothing new; noted the need for new list of targets for potential membership.
Red Smith Award (Jack Beringer to assist with Red Smith from Joe Sullivan, Boston Globe)
Scholarship (Phil Kaplin of Knoxville News Sentinel)
Regions (Dana Sulonen)
— Info on getting a Vice-Chair in Northwest Region
Revenue (new committee – chair Tommy Deas, Tuscalossa News)
Student Liaison (Tim Stephens and Malcolm Moran); first student contest in the books, our winner is Emily Giambalvo of the University of Georgia.
ALSO: Reminder of president’s call for every member to sponsor a student
Website (Emily Horos)
— Emphasis of being serious of being involved with the committee and also need to improve the site in near future.
Writers (James Crepea)
— Long discussion on allowing writers to have a vote/place on the Executive Committee which led to talk about getting more writers to join.
Old Business
1. James Crepea would like to have a vote on his two proposals. I hope everyone who has strong feelings or wants to explore those ideas will make time to discuss it this week.
New business:
VOTE TO APPROVE 2017-18 budget
— First motion Gerry Ahern, second by Mike Sherman and unanimously approved
BYLAWS
1. New language of what the specific duties are for APSE officers in terms of contest matters.
Gerry Ahern motion, Chris Fickett second, passes unanimously
MOVE TO Adjourn
Tommy Deas first motion and Joe Sullivan second motion
LIST OF ATTENDEES
Officers
Jeff Rosen, Kansas City Star
John Bednarowski, Marietta Daily Journal
Robert Gagliardi, Laramie Boomerang/WyoSports
Other attendees
Joe Sullivan, Boston Globe
Jim Luttrell, The New York Times
Bill Eichenberger, Bleacher Report
Malcolm Moran, IUPUI
Jane Allison Havsy, Daily Record (NJ)
Michael Sanserino, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Tyler batiste, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Greg Brownell, The Post-Star
Joe Schiefelbein, The Advocate
Mike Sherman, Tampa Bay Times
Gary Potosky, Philadelphia Inquirer
Chris Fickett, Kansas City Star
Gerry Ahern, GolfWeek
Bill Speros, Golf Week
Ryan Sharp, The Oklahoman
Chris Carr, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Erik Hall, OutSports
Zach Ewing, Bakersfield Californian
Nathan Brown, The Desert Sun
Phil Kaplin, USA Today Network — Tennessee
Michael Giarruso, AP
Travis Gibson, San Luis Obispo Tribune
Matt Vita, Washington Post
Glen Crevier, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Emily Horos, American News (Aberdeen, S.D.)
Diana C. Nearhos, Post-Star
Shauntel Lowe, Bleacher Report
Dave Ammenheuser, USA Today Network — Tennessee
Dana Sulonen, USA Today Network — Tennessee
Mike Szvetitz, Richmond Times-Dispatch
Hugh Kellenberger, Jackson Clarion-Ledger
Will Sammon, Jackson Clarion-Ledger
Nicholas Talbot, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Eric Kolemich, Richmond Times-Dispatch
Christopher Boan, free agent
Reid Laymance, Houston Chronicle
Michael Peters, Tulsa World
Joey Chandler, The Tuscalossa News
Tommy Deas, The Tuscalossa News
Mark Faller, Arizona Republic
Lisa Wilson, The Undefeated
