Minutes from the closing meeting at the Associated Press Sports Editors Summer Conference on Saturday, July 18, 2026, at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Virginia.
President Perryn Keys called the meeting to order at 2:55 p.m. and introduced First Vice President Erik Hall, Second Vice President Maria McIlwain, Third Vice President Lauren Jennings, Executive Director Bill Eichenberger and Conference Coordinator John Bednarowski.
Past presidents in attendance
Paul Barrett, The Seattle Times (2025-26)
Dan Spears, USA Today Sports Network (2024-25)
Naila-Jean Meyers, The Minnesota Star Tribune (2023-24)
Jorge Rojas, The Athletic (2022-23)
Gary Potosky, The Philadelphia Inquirer (2021-22)
Lisa Wilson, The Athletic (2020-21)
John Bednarowski, Marietta Daily Journal (2018-19)
Tommy Deas, then Tuscaloosa News (2016-17)
Mike Sherman, then The Oklahoman (2014-15)
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. — Nate Mink
Southeast: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. — Steve Wiseman
Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wisconsin. — Aaron Ferguson
West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. — Jeff Perkins
Representing the Associated Press: Oscar Dixon
Executive Committee Reports
Finances and budget (Bill Eichenberger)
Nothing new.
Conference (John Bednarowski)
2:22
I hope everybody had a good time this week; let’s finish strong. We’ve got the closing reception at 6 p.m. in Skyview (little vestibule). In here (A&B) for dinner. Beverages and pizzas afterward back in Skyview
Appreciate everybody who came out, we had fun, thank you all.
Attendance: 114 registered
Jason Murray (Host)
Not in attendance.
Revenue (Tommy Deas)
No report.
Thai Night (Tommy Deas) — we love that this is an official part of the meeting lol
For our 13th annual summer conference outing, we returned to the same street just a few blocks down from our original gathering. We had 31 attendees and a lot of thumbs up. Urban Thai manager Winnie was overjoyed with us, and it was mutual. See everyone in Las Vegas in the winter and in Denver next summer.
APSE 5K (Dan Spears)
We had six participants and finishers this morning, and the smoke mostly relented. We will pose with the belt at the awards banquet.
Donn Walden Leadership Grant (Paul Barrett)
No update.
APSE Foundation (Lisa Wilson)
Fellows graduation tonight, and auction closes at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday ahead of the close of the of the awards banquet.
Other summer journalism conferences
– NAHJ: July 22-25 in New Orleans. https://nahj.org/event/nahj-conference-expo-new-orleans-2026/
– AWSM: Aug. 9-11 in Los Angeles
– NABJ: Aug. 12-16 in Atlanta.
– NLGJA: Sept. 10-13 in San Francisco
Committee Reports
Diversity (A. Sherrod Blakely)
Nothing new to report.
Membership (Jason Murray)
No update.
Career Advancement (Lisa Wilson)
6:08
Still working on membership but will have that shortly. Lisa also will check in with everyone who signed up for the committee soon.
Regions (Paul Barrett)
No update.
Scholarships (Phil Kaplan)
No update. Announcement Saturday night.
Commissioners (Hank Winnicki)
No update.
Legal affairs and ethics (John Cherwa)
No update.
Olympics (Roxanna Scott)
Credentials for LA 2028 Olympics
In August (next month) the USOPC expects to send out an application for media organizations to express their interest in credentials for the 2028 Games. At this time, you won’t need names or any personal details for reporters. It’s for the USOPC to get a sense of the demand.
The USOPC does not have a number for how many credentials will be allocated to U.S. media. They believe it will be a large number because it’s a domestic Olympics AND Team USA qualifies large teams for every sport based on previous Games. They will get this number relatively soon.
Next year I expect the APSE Olympic committee will meet with the USOPC to help with the credential allocation. This typically has been done late in the year in Chicago.
In submitting the number of credentials your organization is requesting, Jon Mason, our USOPC contact, says to “be realistic” but also encourages regional and local news outlets to apply. They want that coverage for hometown athletes, and they have seen a sharp decrease in coverage from some of the locals, regionals in recent years.
If you need to get on the USOPC distribution list, please let me know and we can get you added.
World Cup (Paul Barrett)
No update.
Red Smith Award (Matt Pepin)
No update.
Website/social (Erik Hall)
Facebook has 1,100 followers. LinkedIn has 242 followers.
Old business
Contest (Perryn Keys/Erik Hall)
10:32
We had one. It’s done. Not my problem anymore, baby!
Mandatory date drawing for Print Portfolio from the first six months of 2026, using random.org. Perryn Keys, Maria McIlwain and Lauren Jennings witnessed:
The week of Jan. 9, 2027.
You can pick either the Sunday or daily from that week. Remember, you’ll have to pick the opposite for the week in the second half of the year.
The date for the final six months of the year will be drawn in December.
Student Contest (Erik Hall)
12:26
The timeline is shifting for next year. Entries will be from April to Dec. 31. Entries are due at the same time as the main contest. More info will be released in September.
New business
12:59
Remaining swag bags have been deconstructed, so feel free to pillage the leftovers (pens, pencils, T-shirts, notebooks, etc.)
Introducing Erik Hall as first VP,
Introducing Maria McIlwain as second VP and third vice president Lauren Jennings.
Pretty sure this is the first time two women have been elected to national office at the same time
BJK contest will now be run by the second VP. The timeline will be moved up (but not at the same time as the main contest. To give it the attention it deserves and drive entries. BJK very active and wants to see continued growth. Her and her foundation have been thinking big and have been v. active.
16:00 Main contest
Erik opens the floor for ideas to change/improve contest
Tony Maluso: Narrowing the definition for event coverage (continuing news coverage category vs. one-offs/game coverage). Acknowledges that adding freight isn’t ideal, so would we consider cutting something like the explanatory category to break up event coverage?
Dan Spears asked how the podcast category went. Kata Stevens (a judge) says it could have benefitted from more specific guidelines regarding format (audio vs. audio and video) and frequency.
Perryn says he’s glad we added it (his idea, after all). Acknowledges that he knew it wouldn’t be perfect but wants to see it continue to grow. Justin Pelletier also was a judge, and Perryn says he had similar notes as Kata regarding the platform. Also suggested that the guidelines (3 submissions in a portfolio; the first 12 minutes of an entry were mandatory listening) could be revised. Perryn to see podcasts as part of the contest, but leaves it to others.
Tommy Deas noted a low amount of Excellence in Video citations and suggests perhaps judges need more guidelines for how to make it inclusive (example: Boston Globe vs. one guy)
Gary Potosky asked whether we need to make vertical video its own category?
Meredith Perri wondered whether excellence in video gets forgotten. Her judging group was focused on the rankings
Chris Thomas brought up that vertical video generally is very off-platform and would love the contest to reflect that off-platform discovery and how we engage is a vital part of our business.
Naila Myers brought up that the video of theirs (Minnesota Star Tribune) that got cited was a vertical video on Instagram, not the 4-minute, horizontal one
Perryn asks whether we need a social media category but is worried about adding freight. Chris Thomas reminds us that off-platform still has a reporting element and has a lot of the same journalistic principles, so it’s certainly judgable.
Naila: In digital: Anecdotally, socials were factored into the digital contest, but maybe not the way it needed to be.
James Crepea (John Quinn’s idea): There should be an editor of the year, writer of the year, and a story of the year. This is an editor’s organization (this coming from the guy who led the writer’s wing and wanted writers to submit their own stuff).
Erik says he’s wanted this for a while. He thought maybe who got the most Top 10s was Editor of the Year. But what if there’s a change midyear? Haven’t thought of a great way, but open to ideas.
Phil Kaplan: The concept of an editor has changed, with many regional operations. That concept also is made difficult when editors run so many newsrooms that are entered individually.
Naila mentioned that there were 61 entries for the Billie Jean King award for Excellence in Women’s Sports Coverage, and the foundation and King’s camp want to see more. It’s up to us to get people entered and also lean on the writers.
Tony Maluso: Having an entry fee is a barrier to entry because management won’t reimburse it. Amie mentions that she ate the $50 fee. Naila says we could lower the fee if we got more entries. But this is a revenue-generating contest.
Greg Brownell: If we’re going to increase the number of entries, we’ve gotta do a big and small division. Erik concurs.
Phil Kaplan: How would you split up the award? Naila: Ask Billie!!!
Gary Potosky noted that alongside Naila, they hadn’t heard any Billie Jean King chatter at judging. So let’s get the conversation going ASAP.
Perryn: King is right: this needs to be bigger, should be bigger, and deserves to be bigger.
Oscar Dixon agrees with Gary. He suggested making it part of your workflow when you submit entries for the main contest.
Naila says unfortunately, it can’t be in the same form because it’s a payment issue (separate silos for money) and also non-APSE members can enter BJK.
Lisa Wilson And while you enter at the same time, it doesn’t have to be judged at the same time.
Erik: OK, so what about asking your newsroom for money for contest entries so close together?
Gary: Can we separate entry from payment? When we’re going through all our best stuff, that’s the ideal time to find your BJK stuff. Can you submit via a form and then pay later?
Tommy: What if someone who doesn’t pay slips through? Tommy suggests linking to the Billie Jean King contest via the main contest entry forms.
Naila offers historic context: The Billie Jean King contest was announced for the first time on the last day of judging in 2024 in Orlando, so it was fresh. Dan Spears validates the energetic mindset at the time and highlights that people outside of APSE were excited. We just need to get it out there and be overly vocal.
Perryn: King says it’s all about marketing, and she’s super right.
Oscar: Everybody wants to do it, and maybe there’s bandwidth burnout. How do we figure out all these details?
Lisa: Most of all, keep it top of mind, regardless of when the deadline is. We could get more participation from The Athletic if it’s already top of mine with the main contest.
Erik: Beware: It’s going to be an early deadline — summer 2027 conference is early. Maybe even the first week of January. Ideally, access to spreadsheets will be early December.
Bylaws Changes
None.
Closing
Motion to adjourn: Dan Spears
Second: Mike Sherman
Meeting ended at 3:38 p.m.
Attendance
Perryn Keys, The Buffalo News, president
Erik Hall, Alton Telegraph, first vice president
Maria McIlwain, The Philadelphia Inquirer, second vice president
Lauren Jennings, USA Today Center for Community Journalism, third vice president
Lisa Wilson, The Athletic
Greg Brownell, The Post-Star (retired)
Jim Pignatello, MassLive
Matt Pepin, Boston Globe
Scott Thurston, Boston Globe
Roxanna Scott, ESPN
Shannon Scovel, University of Tennessee
Mark Hyman, Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism, University of Maryland
Nicole Mullin, USA Today Co.
Lyzz Stallings, USA Today Co./York Daily Record
Noah Ram, Gainesville Sun
Kata Stevens, Freelance
Meredith Perri, MassLive
Phil Kaplan, USA Today Co.
Chris Thomas, USA Today Co.
James Crepea, The Oregonian
Brian Fonseca, NJ.com
Michael Rosenstein, Rowan University
Parth Upadhyaya, free agent
Amanda Bruno, The Athletic
Patrick Magee, The Advocate/Times-Picayune
Oscar Dixon, The Associated Press
Tommy Deas, USA Today Co.
Nate Mink, syracuse.com/The Post-Standard
Austin Hertzog, PennLive/The Patriot News
Jorge Rojas, The Athletic
Mike Sherman, Sports Business Journal
Bill Bradley, Las Vegas Review-Journal
Bill Eichenberger, APSE
Sherrod Blakely, Boston University
Justin Pelletier, McClatchy Southeast
Emily Horos, The Arizona Republic
Amie Just, Lincoln Journal Star
Ralph Walter, Spokesman-Review
Tony Maluso, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Jeffrey Perkins, San Antonio Express-News
Aaron Ferguson, Indianapolis Star
Jeff Patterson, The Oklahoman
Jamie Hancock, The Dallas Morning News
Benjamin Messinger, University of Maryland
Noah White, The Washington Post
Zoe Collins Rath, Austin American-Statesman
Oskar Garcia The Athletic
Isabella DiAmore, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Courtney Schultz, The Athletic
Connor Pignatello, syracuse.com/Advance Media New York
Steve Wiseman, Raleigh News & Observer/Charlotte Observer
Gary Potosky, The Philadelphia Inquirer
