Congratulations to the 2022-23 Diversity Fellows!
Patrick Bernadeau, Meredith Perri, Zach Powell, Damon Sayles, Alex Vejar and Kelly Ward have been selected for the 11th class of the APSE Diversity in Leadership Fellowship.
- Patrick, a high school sports reporter for the Pensacola News-Journal who aspires to be a sports editor, has worked for four papers in three states (Minnesota, North Dakota and now Florida) since 2013.
- Meredith has been the high school sports editor at MassLive.com since 2015. She founded the Association for Women in Sports Media’s Boston University chapter.
- Zach became the sports editor at the Lock Haven (Pennsylvania) Express in July, shortly after receiving his master’s from IUPUI. He was a three-year captain of the basketball team at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
- Damon, who recently was named Senior Editor, Culture at The Athletic, played a key role in the celebrated NBA 75 project. He takes pride in being a #GirlDad and is a longtime devotee of the Associated Press Stylebook.
- Alex is a general assignment sportswriter at the Salt Lake Tribune, where he received Best Sports Story from the Utah Press Association in 2021.
- Kelly is an assistant sports editor at The Seattle Times, after five years at the Courier-Journal. She is an Alabama alumna with a double major in journalism and math.
The Fellows will take part in a weekend of training and enrichment hosted by APSE past president Michael Anastasi Dec. 9-11 in Nashville.
Other highlights will include participating in on-site judging Feb. 19-22 at the APSE winter conference in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, and attending a region meeting before graduating at the summer conference in Las Vegas (July 9-12).
Want to help the Diversity Fellowship now, and in the future? Consider a one-time donation, or recurring contribution. Learn more at APSEFoundation.org.





