By Mary Byrne, APSE First Vice President
Cory Giger of the Altoona (Pa.) Mirror won first place in the Associated Press Sports Editors 2014 contest in Project Reporting for the Under 30,000 circulation category.
Giger won for a story on minor league legends. He discovered that although more than 200,000 players have showcased their skills in minor-league ball since the 1870s only 111 have had their number retired.
He will be presented a first-place plaque at the 2015 APSE banquet. The banquet and awards dinner concludes the APSE Conference June 24-27 at The Westgate Hotel in San Diego, Calif.
Giger edged runners-up Patrick Mason, Ty Reynolds and Brian Weidman of Sauk Valley Media (Sterling, Ill.) . Stephen Meyers and Adrian Garcia of the Fort Collins Coloradoan placed third.
Sports editors in the Under 30,000 category submitted 24 project entries.The contest is open to APSE members. Click here to join.
Contest chair Mary Byrne numbered each entry, assuring they had been stripped of headlines, graphics, bylines and any other element that would identify the writer or news organization.
In early February, preliminary judges at the APSE Winter Conference in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., selected a top 10, with each judge ranking the entries in order from 1 to 10 separately on a secret ballot. Entries were given 10 points for a first-place vote, nine points for second and so on down to one point for a 10th-place vote. The final 10 were given to a second judging group, which ranked the entries 1-10 in the same fashion. The winner and final rankings are determined by tallying the ballots.
The Project Reporting category judges a collection of articles that sheds new light on personalities and issues in the news, including trends and original ideas. Entries were limited to 10 stories, with optional material allowed to be read at the discretion of judges.
The top 10 is listed below:
Cory Giger, Altoona (Pa.) Mirror, 53 points
Patrick Mason, Ty Reynolds, Brian Weidman of Sauk Valley Media (Sterling, Ill.), 42 points
SVM Retrospective: 2009 Morrison Mustangs
Comets’ final game of 2004 seemed by far the quickest
Comets turned tough loss in 1994 into state title
Hoffmiller provided the ride, the will and the drive for championship team
Dominant era highlighted by 1984 title
Amboy champs in 1984? You bet!
Stephen Meyers and Adrian Garcia of Fort Collins Coloradoan, 40 points
The deadly allure of Longs Peak
Kevin C. Mills, Sun Journal (Lewiston, Maine), 33 points
Somali influence on soccer at Lewiston High School
Cory Mull, Staunton (Va.) News Leader, 33 points
Waynesboro’s football debut opens old wounds
Are the Little Giants turning the corner?
A season with Waynesboro football
Waynesboro football taking big steps toward its goal
Giants feel empty in loss to Lee, lose Brown, too
Waynesboro hoping to extend its season
Waynesboro has more to give in roller-coaster season
For Waynesboro football, no more doubts
Waynesboro football can’t ignore signs anymore
Heartache hard to swallow for Waynesboro football
The Citizens’ Voice staff, The Citizens’ Voice (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.), 28 points
What compels a person to complete a triathlon?
John Bednarowski, Marietta (Ga.) Daily Journal, 27 points
Recruiters making Cobb County a must-see destination
Jim Seimas, Andrew Matheson, J.M. Brown, Santa Cruz Sentinel, 25 points
Santa Cruz fields a barren wasteland
Mike Miller and Jeff LaFave, The Herald-Times (Bloomington, Ind.), 25 points
35 years later, the man who inspired ‘Breaking Away’ is still biking
Eric Van Dril, George Wilcox, Matt Harness, Jon Kerr and Pioneer Local staff, Pioneer Local, 24 points
Season preview: What it takes to be the best tackler
Season preview: The area’s best tacklers
Season preview: The area’s best blockers
Football preview: What it takes to be the best pass rusher
Football preview: What it takes to be the best quarterback
Season preview: The area’s best quarterbacks
Season preview: What it takes to put together the best scouting report
