Hello sports editors!
It’s about that time. Here are the full official rules and entry keys for the 2023 APSE Contest. It’s my gift to you.
The list of organizations with entry keys below is not complete. It is, however, everyone who has renewed as of 5 p.m., Friday, Jan. 12. You still have time to renew or join for 2024 and the 2023 Contest. I know there are plenty of you, and I’ll be making folders, sending out links and adding them to this space as those renewals come in.
Changes and highlights for this year’s rules were announced in the fall, but here you will find more detailed instructions for how to enter and links to your organization’s entry key.
The second mandatory week for the print portfolio was selected on random.org by me and APSE president Naila-Jean Myers on Friday, Dec. 29. That information has been updated below and will be shared on social media.
If you prefer a Google Doc version of the contest rules, which has an outline mode in which you can jump to the sections you need, you can find one here.
Contest chair: Dan Spears, apsecontest@gmail.com, 910-409-4422
ALL questions, issues, alerts, and any other needed communication before, during, and after the contest should be directed to Dan at the above contact information.
CONTEST DEADLINE
- All three entry keys — Digital, Sections, Writing & Photo — are due on 11:59 p.m., Monday, January 15, 2024.
- Links to each organization’s entry key are at the bottom of this article. You must pay APSE dues for 2024 to enter! You can still pay dues and be eligible for the contest. Once you are paid up, your entry key will be created, added to the list below and sent to you. Pay your dues here: https://www.apsportseditors.com/become-an-apse-member/
JUDGING
- In-person judging will take place at the Doubletree Suites Orlando/Disney Springs, Feb. 25-29. Email APSE Conference Coordinator Glen Crevier at gncrev66@gmail.com, if you have questions about the winter conference. You can book your hotel room here.
- There will also be a remote judging period ahead of and during this time. For remote judges, all questions/issues, big and small: Email apsecontest@gmail.com and put OFF-SITE JUDGING in the subject line.
- To RSVP for either in-person or remote contest judging, please fill out this form.
WHAT’S NEW THIS YEAR?
- Editors will be asked to provide a combined digital-only + print circulation in order to determine divisions.
- A new category for national beat writing is being introduced, with all entries combined into a single division, similar to investigative. It will include writers whose beats go beyond a single team or geographical area.
- Maximum of one story entered in a writing category can be entered as a “publishing example” in the Digital Contest.
- Event Coverage category timeframe is expanded to 48 hours.
- Word counts for Short Features and Long Features have been changed, and editors are asked on the entry key to provide a word count.
- Entries completed by multiple organizations must be entered by the largest of the organizations involved.
- The Special Section contest again will start at two divisions – A/B and C/D – but could be increased with a high enough number of entries.
- Triple Crown and Grand Slam categories: Print Portfolio, Digital, Event Coverage and Projects. To be recognized for a Triple Crown, your publication will need to place in the Top 10 in any three of the four categories.
HOW TO ENTER THE CONTEST
- All entries will be submitted as website links, posted into entry keys provided in a Google folder. One Google doc is for the writing/photo contest, one is for the digital contest and one is for the sections contest. If your entry keys are not in the folder, or somehow get lost, contact Dan and he can provide you with a new one.
- To enter, you must have a Google account. You’ll need this both to submit entries and to judge in person or remotely.
How to complete entry keys
- Change the status at the top to “In Progress” while you are filling it out. This is to ensure nobody else grabs it before it is completed.
- Fill out the top fields:
- Name of Organization. Please provide the complete name, as you would like it to appear on a winner’s plaque and in stories about the winners. Example: The New York Times, rather than just New York Times.
- A username and password for your website, if it is needed. This means if you have a paywall you need to provide login information that will be usable through March 31, 2024. Please make sure these passwords work. Too much time is lost in judging trying to resolve website access problems.
- Total daily circulation. This number will be a total of your organization’s end-of-2023 digital-only + print circulation (for those with a print component). Online-only sites should provide number of monthly unique visitors, while Substacks and newsletters will provide number of subscribers. The division you paid dues in may not match your division for the contest.
- Completely fill out each category entry. Some of this information might seem redundant, but keep in mind that these entries will be copied and pasted to different places, so it is important to include everything.
- The name of your organization
- Contest username and password for your website, if needed.
- The name of the reporter(s) credited with the story or group of stories. If more than five people worked on an entry, please say “Staff.”
- Link to the cover letter, when needed.
- Headline on the story.
- Link to the story.
- Note: For categories with multiple possible entries, everything listed above is the same; there are spaces for multiple entries.
- Double-check your entry key. Is everything filled out correctly? Do all the links to your website work? Do all your usernames and passwords work? Are all the links to cover letters working? Have you adjusted your Google doc settings so that judges can access them? If so, you are done.
- More details for entering the print section and digital contests are below.
Cover letters
- Cover Letters will be accepted in only Breaking News, Beat Writing and Investigative. The cover letter format for each is explained in the rules for those categories below. In general, cover letters should NOT include an overview of the writer’s skills, or year of work as a whole, or cheerleading opinion.
- Cover Letters are not allowed in Column Writing, Long Feature Writing, Short Feature Writing, Explanatory, Event Coverage or Projects.
- Cover letters do not have a specific format but should be no longer than three paragraphs. They should only explain what is not apparent in the content itself.
- Cover letters should be written as Google Docs and can be uploaded into your organization’s folder (or make a copy of the Cover Letter template provided). Include a link to the letter in your entry key for the proper category.
Cover letter template
- News organization:
- Writing category:
- Author:
- Explanation for what is not apparent in the content itself.
- What NOT to include: an overview of the writer’s skills, or year of work as a whole, cheerleading opinion, audience/page traffic.
What to do when you’re done
- Change the status from “In Progress” to “Completed” and then notify Dan that your entry is ready by emailing apsecontest@gmail.com.
- Make this a new email, and not part of a chain of any earlier correspondence.
- Put the name of the news organization plus ENTRY COMPLETE in the subject line.
- Include the link to your folder.
GENERAL RULES
Entries that do not adhere to the rules may be disqualified.
- With the exception of Beat Writing, no article may be entered in more than one writing category. Related to this rule: You cannot enter the same material as a Project and as a Special Section. Items entered in the Projects category cannot be entered in another writing category, with the exception of a single story in Beat Writing. Stories entered in Event Coverage can’t be entered in any other writing category, including Beat Writing.
- One entry per writer per category, although a writer may be entered in the same category a second time (and only a second time) if he/she is a member of a team (two or more writers) entry. A single team may not be entered twice.
- Editors from newspaper chains will be asked to declare which reporters “belong” to which publications.
- For example, if Steve Wiseman covers Duke and the ACC for the Durham Herald-Sun and Raleigh News & Observer, the presiding editor should identify which publication he represents.
- Likewise, stories and projects done by multiple writers from different-sized publications must be entered in the highest division. If Wiseman and Scott Fowler share a dual byline, the story must be entered by the Charlotte Observer.
- Example: If a Project is completed by multiple (two or more) outlets in the same chain, it must be entered as the larger chain’s project. For example, if the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., and the Tennessean in Nashville, combine on a Project, it must be entered by the Tennessean.
- This does not apply to contributing taglines.
- Editors are on their honor here. Please provide a list of writers who appear in multiple publications, and to which organizations they belong, by the entry deadline.
- Dual bylines by writers of different organizations are allowed in the single-story categories of Breaking News and Explanatory. APSE will recognize both writers if the story finishes in the Top 10.
- A maximum of two writers and a maximum of two publications are permitted.
- The article must be entered by the larger organization.
- Special sections that include content from network and sister publications may be entered, but judges will place a premium on local/staff content. They will have the discretion to determine how much staff impact the section has — as well as how it was constructed — and grade the entry accordingly.
- If an article was published as a column but is entered in Game Story, Long Feature, Short Feature or Breaking News, the judging group will have disqualification authority.
TO REPEAT: THE MOST IMPORTANT RULES
- With the exception of Beat Writing, no article may be entered in more than one writing category. We repeat: you have to choose.
- There is a limit of one entry per writer per category, although a writer may be entered in the same category a second time (and only a second time) if they are a member of a team (two or more writers) entry. A single team may not be entered twice.
- Make sure logins and passwords to paywalled websites work.
NEWSPAPER/WEBSITE DIVISIONS
- Each organization will be placed into a division based on total print + digital circulation to create competitive balance across A, B, C and D divisions.
- Divisions will be announced on Dec. 31 based on membership at that date. Editors can denote ahead of time, or within 48 hours of division announcements, if they want to compete in a larger division.
PRINT CONTEST
Print Portfolio and Special Section entries are submitted on the same “Print & Sections” entry key in your organization’s folder.
Print Portfolio
A portfolio will consist of five total sections from 2023: 2 dailies (1 mandatory), 2 Sundays (1 mandatory) and 1 wild card entry, which can be a daily or Sunday.
If your organization does not have a Sunday edition, a Saturday edition can be used. If your organization does not publish a print edition on Saturday or Sunday, please consult Dan about how to enter a portfolio.
Mandatory dates
- Monday, Feb. 20 – Sunday, Feb. 26
- Monday, Dec. 11 – Sunday, Dec. 17
- If you pick a Sunday section from the first mandatory week, you must pick a daily section from the second week. If you pick a daily section from the first mandatory week, you must pick the Sunday section from the second week. Not following these parameters will result in disqualification.
Entry guidelines
- Print section entries may include: self-contained sports sections, sports-related material from any other sections of the paper, and special sections that include primarily live content or are regularly scheduled (For example: High school football wraps, college football gameday sections, quarterly outdoors sections.)
- Print section entries may NOT include: Pre-planned standalone special sections (like previews of upcoming seasons or major events). Those must be entered in the special section or projects categories.
- Sections must be turned into a single PDF for all five days of your entry. Here’s a tutorial that can help send sections by PDF.
Judging guidelines
- Judges will select – but not rank – the top 10 sections in each circulation category and will select as many as 10 honorable mentions. The number of top sections can be smaller than 10 if there isn’t a sufficient number of entries to justify a top 10.
- The best sections offer game and event coverage, news, features and opinion, supported by scores, results and standings of the day’s activities as needed to reflect the interest of the readership. There should be an appeal to the fanatic as well as the casual fan – and an attempt to satisfy a range of readership diversity. Judges should look closely at:
- News judgment: Determine the quality of staff-written material. Space should be used wisely. Big-event coverage should be coordinated to avoid overlap. News should be played properly, and judges should look at reactions to breaking news. Where there are few professional teams, judges should look for strong treatment of college, high school and other local results. Even where there are no professional teams, there should be coverage of such national stories as the Super Bowl, World Series, etc. Game coverage should have strong analytical and commentary components. Is there over-reliance on wires? Reliance on wires is OK on some days, but not as a steady diet.
- Enterprise: Judges must note if there is an effort to bring something extra. Does the section offer features, trend pieces, scoops, innovative standing features or reader nuggets? Do efforts show originality and a high level of reporting, writing and expertise? Is there an effort to entertain as well as inform? Are there light touches?
Special Sections
News organizations may submit one special section. These are about a single subject or theme, issued one time.
Entry guidelines
- What’s not eligible: Special sections sold only as standalone products on newsstands or elsewhere. The special section must have been part of the regular newspaper run. A special section may contain live news (like stories in which a team wins a championship) related to the theme, but it may not include unrelated articles.
- Special sections that include content from network and sister publications may be entered, but judges will place a premium on local/staff content. They will have the discretion to determine how much staff impact the section has.
- Live special sections may be entered as long as they have not been entered as part of the print portfolio.
Judging guidelines
- Judges will select – but not rank – the top 10 sections in each division and will select as many as 10 honorable mentions. The number of top sections can be smaller than 10 if there isn’t a sufficient number of entries to justify a top 10.
- How are special sections judged: Does the section have impact? Does it hold your attention? Is it distinctive? Does it have imagination and originality?
- Design: Is there a coordinated presentation of pictures, graphics, illustrations and articles that help the reader understand the theme or subject? Does it make sense? Is it attractive? Judges may consider color reproduction.
- Writing/content: Is it well written, well edited and truly special? Is the content consistent, useful, informative and/or entertaining? Does the theme hold up?
DIGITAL CONTEST
- One entry per organization; five components per entry; no cover letters.
- Digital is now part of the Triple Crown and Grand Slam, so you must enter this contest if you aspire to win a Triple Crown/Grand Slam.
- The digital contest is broken down into publishing examples (a recommended 85 percent weight) and live judging of your website (a recommended 15 percent).
- Maximum of one story entered in a writing category can be entered as a “publishing example” in the Digital Contest.
- Videos entered in the digital contest are eligible for “Excellence in Video” certificates. More details below.
- Digital contest entries are submitted on the “digital contest” entry key in your organization’s folder.
Publishing examples
Entries will be judged, foremost, on how well your staff uses digital tools, on and off platform, to tell stories and engage readers. What do you do digitally for your readers and what can your staff accomplish at its most creative?
In your five publishing examples, you can include, but are not limited to:
Individual story: Example of a story that is particularly effective online because it ties together multiple elements that play particularly well for a mobile or online audience. The story and the art are the furniture; photos, graphics, interactive elements, video, detail boxes, pull quotes, podcasting that’s tied to the subject matter of the story … all items that enhance the reader experience are the emphasis for this score.
Video: Video can stand alone or be embedded as supplementary material in an article, but it must be produced by your editorial department. Examples include feature videos like player profiles, live panel discussions and game highlights with analysis. Video produced by affiliated television stations is not allowed. Videos will be judged on the strength of storytelling and expertise; visual and audio quality will be considered. NOTE OF CAUTION: While an organization could enter five videos as its publishing examples to compete for a video award, such an entry would be unlikely to earn a top 10 in the Digital Contest, which is a Triple Crown category.
Other multimedia: Charts/lists/graphics that tell a story, game film reviews with original reporting, photo galleries, podcasts (just one episode, and denote a 10-minute time period that judges should listen to).
Interactives: Graphics, quizzes, games, reader callouts.
Social Media: Demonstrate how you promote your content and engage with readers/sources off platform. Examples include Facebook groups, Instagram Live, TikTok video, Reddit AMAs, Twitter threads, Twitter Spaces.
Newsletters: A staff-written, -edited and -published newsletter (automated newsletters do not count)
Live judging of websites
The digital contest is not about who has the best website; sports editors often have no control over design, story placement and navigability, but here are some things for judges to consider when looking at entries:
- Did the site offer a variety of elements such as photo galleries, videos, graphics in addition to stories?
- Enticing headlines that draw readers in.
- Smart related content to keep you on the site
- Freshness of content, emphasis of content, mix of content
- Did you enjoy the experience? Would you keep coming back?
- Judges are encouraged to look at publishing examples on their phones to evaluate how the entrant serves its mobile audience, but, for now, it is up to the judges’ discretion how much weight to give mobile experiences.
Excellence in video
Judges can award up to five “excellence in video” citations in each division. Any video entered among the five publishing examples in the digital contest will be eligible for this award. This is intended to recognize individual videos. Long-form, multimedia-inspired video series can be entered as Projects.
WRITING AND PHOTO CONTEST
Preliminary judges will select the top 10 stories in each division of each category as finalists. As with sections, a category that does not have a sufficient number of entries can be reduced to Top 5.
Each judge, separately, will list the stories in order from 1 to 10, with 1 being the best story. The 10 finalists will be submitted to the contest committee, which will give them to a second judging group, which also will rank the stories 1-10 in the same fashion as the first group. All judges’ ballots will be turned into the contest chair to accumulate points and determine the final ranking.
Investigative
- One entry per organization; 1 to 10 articles per entry; cover letter accepted.
- Up to five contributors can be named per entry; if more than five people contributed to the entry, please use “Staff.”
- Judging will be based on the entry’s enterprise, initiative, documentation, resourcefulness and original reporting in uncovering newsworthy and significant facts and developments that otherwise might not have been reported. Impact and aftermath of the work should be considered.
- Investigative work should rely on reporting of facts discovered or uncovered by the author(s) rather than reports from anonymous sources offering unverified statements.
- Investigative entries cannot include articles for which payments were made for information.
- A maximum of 10 links, which can include graphics/charts and multimedia, can be submitted as part of the official entry. Additional links can be included as supplemental material, but will not be required reading by the judges.
- The cover letter should be no longer than three paragraphs and explain what a judge needs to know about the entry that’s not apparent from reading the material. For example: The time peg for when a story is published, the impact of the story to the community, the rarity of getting a particular source, how it tied into a trending issue at the time.
Beat Writing
- There are now two categories for beat writing.
- National beat writing, in which reporters cover a league, sport or topic as a whole, not just one franchise (Ex: the NFL, the Southeastern Conference, the Olympics, national sports media). All national beat writing entries will be judged together, with no divisions, similar to Investigative.
- Team or locality beat writing (Ex: The Houston Astros, University of Kansas athletics, high school and community sports in Asheville, N.C.). Entries in this category will be divided by divisions.
- For both categories, two entries per organization are allowed.
- This collection of articles by a single author (can be more than one on the Breaking News entry only) should show authoritative, newsy and innovative coverage of a beat. Each entry consists of five items:
- One breaking news story. It can be coverage of breaking news, but judges are allowed to give more weight to beat writers who were first with the news.
- One event or game coverage story. This can include a column or sidebar.
- One enterprise story.
- Two wild-card entries, from any of the aforementioned categories or other analysis related to the beat. Multimedia can be one or both wild cards.
- Examples of multimedia or digital features eligible to be entered as a wild card in Beat Writing are:
- Newsletter authored by the entrant
- Charts or graphics researched, compiled and produced by the entrant
- Video that the writer shoots and scripts and is the primary voice for. Video produced by affiliated television stations is not allowed.
- Social media content in which the entrant is the creator, host or moderator: including Twitter threads and Spaces, Instagram videos, Reddit AMAs, etc.
- Podcasts are eligible, but only one episode and the entrant must be the host or primary contributor. Entries should denote specific parts of the podcast that truly highlight its uniqueness and quality. Judges can, but will not be required, to listen to an entire podcast episode.
- Cover letters should be no more than three paragraphs and must include:
- Parameters of the reporter’s beat and a synopsis of how the combined submissions demonstrate excellence. The cover letter can note metrics that show authority and engagement, but should refrain from cheerleading.
- An explanation if the breaking news submission has more than one byline. Beat writing can have more than one byline in the breaking news entry, provided that the breaking news happens on that writer’s beat and the story is written primarily by the entrant.
- An explanation (who did what) if a multimedia entry includes contributors other than the entrant.
NOTE: Beat Writing is the only writing category in which stories can be entered for a second time. The five articles that make up the entry can (but are not required to) be entered in other categories. For instance, a breaking news story can be entered in Breaking News and Beat Writing. A single article that is part of a Projects entry can be included in Beat Writing. The one exception is Event Coverage. The same article can’t be entered in Beat Writing and Event Coverage.
Breaking News
- Three entries per organization; one article per entry; cover letter accepted.
- Coverage of a sports news development (trades, hirings, firings, franchise shifts, etc.) that occurred in the most recent news cycle. Reporter(s) need not have broken the story, but judges can factor that in.
- Online or print stories can be submitted.
- If an article was published as a column but is entered in Breaking News, the judging group will have disqualification authority.
- No supplemental materials are allowed.
- The cover letter should be no longer than three paragraphs and explain:
- Who broke the story
- When the news was obtained relative to publication
- What a judge needs to know about this entry that’s not apparent from reading the material
Columns
- Two entries per organization; four articles per entry; no cover letters.
- Judged on style, writing quality, originality and local appeal.
- No restriction on subject matter and no requirement that the columns appear regularly.
- A column cannot be entered in both Columns and Event Coverage.
Event Coverage
- One entry per organization; 1-5 articles per entry; no cover letters.
- Up to five pieces of content from the coverage of a single event over a 48-hour period, beginning with the first story published. Entries may consist of content that appeared in print or digital formats.
- What is an event? The definition of an event is flexible for the purposes of the contest. The quality of the coverage is paramount to the “importance” of the event: Comprehensive and creative coverage of an event that matters to your readers. Show how your staff captures big moments in the moment.
- If you have questions about what qualifies, just ask Dan.
- If you choose a prominent death, a pre-written obit can be part of the coverage as long as you also include live reaction and analysis in your entry.
- Entries can include breaking news stories, columns, videos, photo galleries, charts, podcasts, social media posts and more. Entries may consist of content that appeared in print or digital formats.
- A live print special section cannot be entered here and in the Special Section category.
- No preview content should be a part of the entry.
- Additional links can be included as supplemental material, but will not be required reading by the judges.
- Any item used in an Event Coverage entry cannot be used in any other category of the contest, including Beat Writing and Digital.
Explanatory
- Two entries per organization; one article per entry; no cover letters.
- Accompanying sidebars, graphics/charts or multimedia can be entered as supplementary material but will not be required reading by the judges.
- Explanatory stories explore the hows and whys of trends, issues and original ideas. They shed new light on issues and personalities in the news. They explain something through clear writing and thorough reporting. They are more than a feature and less than a project entry. They go beyond the “yesterday” of the breaking news story. The explanatory category is often a good home for data reporting.
Long Feature
- Two entries per organization; one entry per writer; one article per entry; no cover letters.
- No sidebars or supplemental material allowed.
- Entries are 1,351 words or more in A and B divisions and 1,101 or more words in C and D divisions. Shorter stories can be entered.
- Word counts can be determined by:
- Copying the story text into a Google or Microsoft word document
- Removing captions, headlines, summaries, subheads, advertisements, related links language, pull quotes, and any other content that is not the actual story.
- The byline DOES NOT COUNT toward the word length.
- Entries will be judged on quality of writing, thoroughness of reporting and reader interest.
- If an article was published as a column but is entered in Long Feature, the judging group will have disqualification authority.
Short Feature
- Two entries per organization; one entry per writer; one article per entry; no cover letters.
- No sidebars or supplemental material allowed.
- Entries are 1,350 words or less in A and B divisions and 1,100 words or less in C and D divisions. Entries that exceed the length limit will be disqualified. Editors are responsible for providing a word count on the entry key.
- Word counts can be determined by:
- Copying the story text into a Google or Microsoft word document
- Removing captions, headlines, summaries, subheads, advertisements, related links language, pull quotes, and any other content that is not the actual story.
- The byline DOES NOT COUNT toward the word length.
- Entries will be judged on quality of writing, thoroughness of reporting and reader interest.
- If an article was published as a column but is entered in Short Feature, the judging group will have disqualification authority.
Projects
- One entry per organization; 1-10 articles per entry; no cover letters.
- A project sheds new light on personalities or issues in the news, including trends and original ideas. It is pre-planned content that is conceived and executed as a larger body of work. It is not ongoing coverage of a news event over a period of time in which a number of stories are compiled for an entry.
- A video or audio series, or a long-form documentary or podcast, can be entered as a project if it meets the definition above.
- Entries are limited to 10 links, which can be articles, multimedia, data visualization or other story forms. Additional links can be entered as supplementary material but will not be required reading by the judges.
- Material used in a special section can be used in Special Sections or Projects, but not both. If you enter that material here, the special section may be included as a PDF in supplementary material, but it is advised to submit the best elements of the section individually among the 10 entries.
- You CANNOT include any part of the Projects entry (including optional material) in any other writing category — with the exception of one story in the Beat Writing category.
- For example, you can’t take a sidebar from your project entry and enter it in Short Feature and two more pieces of an entered project and enter them in Explanatory.
- Discovery of the same material entered under Projects and any other writing category (with the exception of one story in Beat Writing) will result in both entries being disqualified.
Game Stories (C and D only)
- Two entries per organization; one article per entry; one entry per writer. No cover letters.
- The best single game story by a single author. No sidebars or supplemental material.
- If an article was published as a column but is entered in Game Stories, the judging group will have disqualification authority.
- The same article cannot be entered in Game Stories and Event Coverage.
Action Photo
- Two entries per organization; one photo per entry; no cover letters
- A photographer can be entered in this category only once.
- No cover letters.
- Judging will be done by AP photo editors.
- No galleries allowed. You must “snip” or download the individual photo and follow the instructions on the entry key.
Feature Photo
- Two entries per organization; one photo per entry; no cover letters.
- A photographer can be entered in this category only once.
- Judging will be done by AP photo editors.
- No galleries allowed. You must “snip” or download the individual photo and follow the instructions on the entry key.
DIVISIONS FOR THE 2023 CONTEST
A Division
AL.com; Bay Area News Group; Chicago Tribune; Detroit Free Press; ESPN.com; FloSports; Gambling.com Group; Houston Chronicle; Los Angeles Times; Miami Herald, Newsday, NJ Advance Media (Newark); Southern California News Group; Star Tribune (Minneapolis); Tampa Bay Times; The Advocate | The Times Picayune; The Arizona Republic; The Athletic; The Boston Globe; The Dallas Morning News; The Denver Gazette; The Denver Post; The New York Times; The Philadelphia Inquirer; The San Francisco Chronicle; The Seattle Times; The Washington Post; USA TODAY Sports; Yahoo Sports
B Division
Advance Media NY (Syracuse); Andscape; BamaCentral; Courier Journal (Louisville, Ky.); IndyStar (Indianapolis); Knoxville News Sentinel; Las Vegas Review-Journal; Lexington Herald-Leader; MassLive; Naples Daily News; Omaha World-Herald; Orlando Sentinel; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Pittsburgh Tribune-Review; Richmond Times-Dispatch; San Antonio Express-news; Sellout Crowd (Oklahoma City); South Florida Sun-Sentinel; Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.); St. Louis Post-Dispatch; The Baltimore Banner; The Baltimore Sun; The Blade (Toledo, Ohio); The Buffalo News; The Charlotte Observer; The Cincinnati Enquirer; The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch; The Detroit News; The Kansas City Star; The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.); The Oklahoman; The Oregonian; The Palm Beach Post; The Post and Courier (Charleston, S.C.); The Salt Lake Tribune; The San Diego Union-Tribune; The Tennessean (Nashville); The Villages Daily Sun; The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk)
C Division
Asheville Citizen Times; Clarion Ledger (Jackson, Miss.); Columbia Daily Tribune; Daytona Beach news-Journal; Erie Times-News; Evansville Courier & Press; Fort Worth Star-Telegram; Go Long; Green Bay Press-Gazette; Idaho Statesman (Boise); JohnCanzano.com; Lincoln Journal Star; LoneStarLive.com; Lubbock Avalanche-Journal; Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, Ill.); PennLive (Harrisburg); Pensacola News Journal; South Bend Tribune; Tallahassee Democrat; The Citizens’ Voice (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.); The Commercial Appeal (Memphis); The Daily Memphian; The Daily Sun (Port Charlotte, Fla.); The Desert Sun (Palm Springs, Calif.); The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville); The Free Lance Star (Fredericksburg, Va.); The Gazette (Colorado Springs); The Greenville (S.C.) News; The News-Gazette (Champaign, Ill.); The News-Press (Fort Myers, Fla.); The Record (Bergen, N.J.); The Roanoke Times; The Scranton Times-Tribune; The State (Columbia, S.C.); The Stein Line; The Topeka Capital-Journal; Treasure Coast Newspapers (Stuart, Fla.); Wilmington (N.C.) StarNews; Wisconsin State Journal.
D Division
Amarillo Globe-News; Athens Banner-Herald; Augusta Chronicle; Burlington (Vt.) Free Press; Capital Gazette (Annapolis, Md.); Carroll County Times; Casper Star-Tribune; Century Newspapers (California); Corpus Christi Caller-Times; Daily Record (Rockaway, N.J.); Denton Record-Chronicle; Gadsden Times; Grand Forks Herald; Hattiesburg American; Hendersonville (N.C.) Times-News; Journal & Courier (Lafayette, Ind.); Laramie Boomerang; Las Cruces Sun News; Lock Haven Express; Mansfield (Ohio) News Journal; Marietta Daily Journal; MetroWest Daily News; Montgomery Advertiser; Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal; On Montlake; Petoskey News-Review; Picket Fence Media (California); Redding Record Searchlight; Rockford Register-Star; Santa Cruz Sentinel; Savannah Morning News; Southwest Times Record (Fort Smith, Ark.); Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader; Sun Journal (Lewiston, Maine); The Aegis (Harford County, Md.); The Bryan-College Station Eagle; The Daily Advertiser (Lafayette, La.); The Daily News Journal (Murfreesboro, Tenn.); The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer; The Florence Morning News; The Gainesville Sun; The Gaston Gazette (Gastonia, N.C.); The Herald-Times (Bloomington, Ind.); The Holland Sentinel; The Leaf-Chronicle (Clarksville, Tenn.); The Patriot Ledger (Quincy, Mass.); The Pine Belt News (Hattiesburg); The Sentinel (Carlisle, Pa.); The Standard-Times (New Bedford, Mass.); The Tuscaloosa News; Tide Illustrated; University of Maryland Shirley Povich Center; Visalia Times-Delta; Wichita Falls Times News Record; Williamsport Sun-Gazette; Wyoming Tribune Eagle; Yakima Herald-Republic; Yankton Press & Dakotan; York (Pa.) Daily Record; Zanesville Times Recorder.
ENTRY KEY / GOOGLE DRIVE LINKS
The following organizations have renewed their memberships as of 4 p.m., Friday, Dec. 29, and are eligible for the contest. Haven’t renewed yet? You can do that here.
If you have already renewed and are not on this list, please reach out to executive director Bill Eichenberger (billapse707@gmail.com) for confirmation. Dan will email a link and also add it to the list here.
If your organization’s name is listed incorrectly here, please let Dan know in your entry key so it can be updated on our official list for the contest. Thank you, and good luck!
Capital Gazette (Annapolis, Md.)
Century Newspapers (California)
Clarion Ledger (Jackson, Miss.)
Courier Journal (Louisville, Ky.)
Hendersonville (N.C.) Times-News
Journal & Courier (Lafayette, Ind.)
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, Ill.)
PennLive/Patriot-News (Harrisburg, Pa.)
South Florida Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale)
Southern California News Group
Southwest Times Record (Fort Smith, Ark.)
Sports Capital Journalism Program
The Advocate & The Times-Picayune
The Aegis (Harford County, Md.)
The Bryan-College Station Eagle
The Citizens’ Voice (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.)
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis)
The Daily Advertiser (Lafayette, La.)
The Daily News Journal (Murfreesboro, Tenn.)
The Daily Sun (Port Charlotte, Fla.)
The Desert Sun (Palm Springs, Calif.)
The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer
The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, Va.)
The Gazette (Colorado Springs)
The Herald-Times (Bloomington, Ind.)
The Leaf-Chronicle (Clarksville, Tenn.)
The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
The News-Gazette (Champaign, Ill.)
The News-Press (Fort Myers, Fla.)
The Patriot Ledger (Quincy, Mass.)
The Pine Belt News (Hattiesburg, Miss.)
The Post & Courier (Charleston, S.C.)
The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.)
The Standard-Times (New Bedford, Mass.)
Treasure Coast Newspapers (Stuart, Fla.)
Wichita Falls Times News Record
Wisconsin State Journal (Madison)
