Minutes from the Associated Press Sports Editors Winter Conference and Judging closing meeting at the South Point Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026

President Paul Barrett called the meeting to order at 11:04 a.m. and introduced first vice president Perryn Keys, second vice president Erik Hall, third vice president Tony Maluso, executive director Bill Eichenberger, and conference coordinator John Bednarowski. 

Past presidents in attendance:

• Naila-Jean Meyers, Minnesota Star Tribune (2023-24)
• Jorge Rojas, The Athletic (2022-23)
• Gary Potosky, The Philadelphia Inquirer (2021-22)
• John Bednarowski, Marietta Daily Journal (2018-19)
• Tommy Deas, then Tuscaloosa News (2016-17)
• Phil Kaplan, then Knoxville News-Sentinel (2010-11)
• Bill Eichenberger, then Newsday (2003-04)

Region representatives

Northeast: Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia. – Jim Pigniatello

Southeast: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. – Tommy Deas

Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wisconsin. – Naila Jean Meyers

West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. – Maria McIlwain

Representing the Associated Press: Barry Bedlan

Finances and budget update (Bill Eichenberger)

No update

Conference update (John Bednarowski)

John – understands some concerns. Can’t do anything about the smoke. If we need a couple of extra meeting rooms, not a problem. May have a contest central room in a suite with a conference table, which could double as a hospitality area in the evening. Hope to use astroturf outside. When initially booking the hotel, the sales rep mentioned that but has not met that person in person as of yet due to the person’s illness.

The main reason this place was selected was the price point. The biggest thing is no attrition penalty if we don’t meet our rooms. 

John plans to sit down with South Point leadership. People handling things are great to work with. Like to consider these changes and ask them to make a proposal. John plans to look at Palms, Silverton, and Orleans and find out if they also have a proposal. 

Iliana says that wifi was very reliable at South Point. 

Jorge Rojas says to try to avoid conflicting with the NFL combine. This year, with the Olympics would be some conflict. 

Revenue (Tommy Deas)

No update, but a lot of good leads to pursue from the conference planning meeting and other discussions. Confident we’ll end up with more sponsorship money than we have now. 

Thai Night and Mini-Golf

Thai Night had 31 attendees. Great restaurant and service. 

Another successful APSE mini golf outing is in the books, and we have another new winner.

A perennial contender, Dan Spears earned a 1-stroke win over Justin Pelletier in this year’s event at PopStroke Las Vegas.

In two tough rounds over two grueling course layouts, Dan finished with 86 strokes to take home the win by one over Justin (87). Another perennial contender, Gary Potosky, placed third with an 89, and Nick Daschel posted a 90 for fourth. Past champ Jeff Perkins tied for fifth with Jimmy Hascup with matching 95s.

In the women’s division, newcomer Zoe Collins Rath was first with a 98.

Thanks to all who came out this year. Looking forward to our next minigolf tourney outing in Washington, D.C., course location to be determined!

The bowling winner was Justin with 152. With 285 for most pins was Greg Brownell. 

APSE Foundation Fellows Class (Jorge Rojas)

No updates but a round of applause. We had 14 current or former fellows by Jorge’s count on site judging. 

COMMITTEE REPORTS 

Contest (Perryn Keys)

In the opening meeting, I noted that several past presidents came to me and told me that for a few months, the contest will take up a minimum of all of your time. They weren’t lying. But I do want to share another story.

I spent a lot of time worrying about this. Just as so many of you all as sports editors worry about a lot of stuff. You’re worried about the mental state of your own people, their morale, you’re worried about making sure all your bases are covered, making sure your bosses are happy, scared that you’re forgetting something, or you’re sweating out a big project or a deadline or a legal issue. That’s what we do.

So that’s what we do. And the thing I worried about the most was securing enough judges. We got enough. It wasn’t enough to make it perfect, but it was enough to make it work, same as always.

But as the past few weeks, up to now, went down, there was this one feeling that really kept on coming up, over and over: You’re asking people to take time out of their day, to take extra time, for no money, burn up a lot of patience, a lot of freaking heartache, some of them at the last minute, some of them you’re asking for a second and third favor — I can’t speak for anyone else who’s been in this chair, but I just … every time, I’m thinking, “Well, I can’t blame anyone when they’re surely gonna turn me down this time.” And the enormous number of “yes” answers that all of you keep on giving. It just reminds me — and I know this sounds corny as hell, but seriously — it just reminds me: Man, we’ve got an industry of so, so, so many great people who are willing to go above and beyond every time. Please indulge me, and indulge yourselves, give yourselves a round of applause, and I mean that. I’m so grateful to all of you.

This was a lot, and there’s a little more left. We have some categories still out. I expected at least three. They are:

-National Beat Writing. I wanted some pros’ pros, but also those who didn’t have conflict. We’ve got four judges on that, but we had to wait for three of them to get clear from other assignments. So we’re hopeful they get that finished this weekend.

-Special Sections. Another case where we wanted a mix of editors and page designers looking at that. To me, it was about getting the right judges in front of those sections, especially now that there are fewer and fewer of them. Let’s make sure we get it right. That should also be by Friday.

-A&B podcasts. Again, podcasts were a brand-new category in all divisions this year. I felt like we had the perfect three judges for the C&D category. We wanted to have the right judges looking at this category. Justin Pelletier, Andre Fernandez and Lyric Swinton all have hands-on experience in this field and they don’t have conflicts in C&D. That will again be the case in A&B once those other judges get clear, but again, and especially in this first year, I did not want, say, a retired page designer judging podcasts. So I anticipate that might be the last one in, but I also think it’s important to get it right. 

Most of you know we still have a handful of final rankings to go through. So most of you know I might be reaching out to you to help mop that up. And if you don’t know that already … you do now!

I’m hoping to have everything done before mid-March, both for timeliness’ sake and because of professional commitments back home.

I’m also responsible for judging in Year 3 of the Billie Jean King Award, so if you’re interested in helping with that please email me at apsecontest@gmail.com.

Getting back to the APSE Contest, we got some great feedback this week for several categories, especially the maiden voyages on Podcasts. And Erik and I discussed maybe it’s better for Podcasts to live with Print Portfolio and the Digital Portfolio as we go down the road. And of course, we discussed how we ought to fine-tune how we have you, as judges, return your results to avoid mistakes and confusion. We made two rather big mistakes back at HQ, and we have to own that, and I specifically as contest chair — I’m the captain of the ship, so I have to take personal responsibility.

But again, that’s a great way to learn a lesson. A tough way, but a great way. And I’ll bet that Erik, pro that he is, will take that and build upon that as well.

And finally, let’s open it up to contest questions and comments.

Zoe Rath says there was exceptional work in C&D and wondered if there was a way to see how those winners would stack up against A&B entries. 

Jorge says we don’t need to give Amie Just any more awards. 

Erik suggests honoring the sports editor with the most wins or the most Top 10s. 

Gary shares an idea he had with Justin, centering on “ongoing coverage.” Rather than an event with a set time frame, something ongoing where quality reporting persists. We don’t just stop the day the news comes out. We go back into it, fill it out, and expand on it. 

Erik struggles with finding what would be included rather than legal troubles. Asks for examples. Naila gives an example of the figure skating club’s plane crash. Gary adds the Gaudreau brothers’ death. He says it could showcase how a newsroom covers a story beyond the initial story. 

Tommy says you’d better define the hell out of it if you do it. You would also be creating a category where C&Ds might not have resources. 

Tommy asks why there is no “excellence in video for D.” He says it’s unfair that the best in the category is not recognized. Perryn says he’s fine with the points Tommy makes about video. Regarding the new category, he also says that if we keep adding freight, it scares him that we’re going to make the contest unjudgable. 

Iliana says she noticed some entry comprehension issues, with some editors not fully understanding the rules and guidelines for certain categories. Wants to have rules pinned to the website.

Tommy backs Iliana’s suggestion, and also says we badly need to redraft the rules. 

Naila suggests that, regarding feedback, we actually put notes like, “You didn’t enter the right things; this is a game story, not breaking news.” 

Iliana suggests, we do a conference session “how we did it” from the winners, can we do something in September, “Here’s what you should do, here’s some entry tips.” 

Rod suggests a rubric for defining breaking news. “Here’s something you might want to consider.”

Nick suggests the potential AMA should be done in March when it’s fresh in everyone’s mind. Would help plan for the upcoming year. 

Paul thanks Perryn for all the work he has put into the contest. 

Diversity (A. Sherrod Blakely)

No updates.

Membership (Jason Murray)

No updates.

Regions update (Paul)

Reminder that the Northeast Region meeting is April 13 at Boston University. 

The Southeast Region meeting is May 11 in Birmingham. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey has committed to a one-hour, on-the-record Q&A. 

Career Advancement (Lisa Wilson)

No updates.

Other summer journalism conference dates we know:

AAJA: June 24-28, Minneapolis.

NAHJ: July 22-25 in New Orleans.

NABJ: Aug. 12-16 in Atlanta.

NLGJA: Sept. 10-13 in San Francisco.

Commissioners (Hank Winnicki)

No updates.

Legal affairs and ethics (Gerry Ahern and John Cherwa)

No updates.

Olympics (Roxanna Scott)

No updates.

World Cup 2026 (Paul Barrett)

No updates.

Red Smith Award (Matt Pepin)

Red Smith Award: Voting deadline is March 10.

Scholarships (Phil Kaplan)

No updates.

Student Contest (Erik Hall)

No update. 

Website/social (Erik Hall)

The results that we know are on the website now. More will roll in. 

OLD BUSINESS 

None.

NEW BUSINESS

Committee changes & volunteers (Paul Barrett)

I’ve received some good suggestions from Gary Potosky on how some of the duties for the committee chairs are listed on the website, and I’ll be in touch with some of the chairs soon to discuss those.

Also, Iliana Limón Romero has a suggestion for a new committee:

I recommend we launch the “Sustainability Committee” — open to other names — that examines ways we can support existing APSE sports departments amid immense stress within the industry that shows no sign of relenting. 

Of course, APSE exists to provide this support under its overall description, but this committee would work to identify stress points and ways to possibly pool our collective resources to help each other.

I would recommend the committee start with an all-hands open invitation to all APSE members roughly three weeks after winter judging concludes.

The first agenda would include the following:

1. SALUTE TO WASHINGTON POST

We’d take a few minutes to offer praise, support and encouragement to Jason Murray and his editing team. 

2. NBA TRAVEL

Howard Beck, president of the Pro Basketball Writers Association of America, flagged a concern I share about the rapid decline in beat reporter travel to NBA games. He would like to collaborate on gathering data that could be presented to the NBA as we seek out some ways to better support our publications facing these tough coverage decisions. 

Some options for the group to discuss:

1. Can home teams help run quotes in select cases for the road outlet that could not travel?

2. Can AP provide quotes? Right now, the majority of AP game stories do not include quotes even when staffed by a reporter.

3. Should we ask the NBA to put the head coaches in the same postgame press conference room rather than them talking at the same time in separate parts of the arena?

4. Should we ask the NBA to reinstate pandemic era Zooms? Could the teams that can’t travel actually use this resource or do they not have enough staffing to cover these Zooms?

5. Is quality of access a reason reporters aren’t traveling? If so, we should relay that to the NBA along with the PBWAA.

That feels like a good start for the first meeting, then we can solicit topics that members would like to discuss. 

—–

Iliana mentioned we don’t have anything specific to this. Bill Bradley said went to AWSM in 2019 and impressed that sessions on health/wellness, and that we could really use this. Bring in people to talk about stress and not just about stories.

Iliana thanks everyone for patience. 

Second and Third Vice President Nominations (Paul Barrett)

The floor is now open for nominations for second vice president. Reminder that this is a three-year commitment to the organization to attend both winter and summer conferences. 

Outgoing region chairs Jim Pignatiello of MassLive (Northeast) and Chris Boan of Gambling.com (West) are eligible to be on the ballot.

Per the bylaws, a candidate must be nominated – and seconded – by independent members of the Executive Committee, between now and 11:59 p.m., March 15. The executive committee is officers, region chairs (or vice chairs in their absence), AP representatives and past presidents.

Candidates will be asked for a biography for the website before the election.

• Jim Pignatiello has decided to be on the ballot.

• Tommy Deas nominated Maria McIlwain. Jorge Rojas seconded. Maria accepted. 

It’s also time for nominations for third vice president, which I neglected to mention in the opening meeting. Third vice president Tony Maluso’s two-year term is up this summer.

• Tony Maluso has declared his intention to be on the ballot again, which is his option according to the bylaws.

• Dan Spears nominated Patrick Obley in writing, and Erik Hall seconded. Patrick sent word that he will accept. 

John Bednarowski nominated Lauren Jennings, Naila Jean Meyers seconds. Lauren has sent word she accepts. 

Motion to adjourn: Iliana Limon Romero

Second: Naila Jean Meyers

Meeting ends at 11:59 a.m.

Attendance

• John Bednarowski, Marietta Daily Journal, APSE conference coordinator
• Bill Eichenberger, APSE executive director, APSE past president
• Erik Hall, The Telegraph in Alton, Illinois
• Perryn Keys, The Buffalo News
• Paul Barrett, The Seattle Times
• Tony Maluso, Capital Gazette
• Jim Pignatiello, MassLive
• Barry Bedlan, AP
• Ryan Winn, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
• Naila Meyers, MN Star Tribune
• Maria McIlwain, The Philadelphia Inquirer
• Iliana Limón Romero, LA Times
• Gary Potosky, Philadelphia Inquirer 
• Tommy Deas, USA Today Co.
• Nick Daschel, The Oregonian
• Jimmy Hascup, NJ.com
• Bill Bradley, Las Vegas Review-Journal
• Jim Barnes, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
• Rod Beard, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• Jorge Rojas, The Athletic
• Andre Fernandez, The Miami Herald
• Zoe Collins-Rath, Austin American-Statesman
• Lyric Swinton, The Takedown on SI
• Bria Manning, Montana Standard
• Courtney Shultz, The Athletic
• Carlos Silva Jr., Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
• Phil Kaplan, USA TODAY South Region
• Isabella DiAmore, The Philadelphia Inquirer 
• Jeff Perkins, San Antonio Express-News
• Diamond Leung, Las Vegas Review-Journal