The Associated Press Sports Editors held their opening meeting of the 2026 Summer Conference on Thursday, July 16, 2026, at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Virginia.
Here are the minutes from the meeting:
Minutes from the opening meeting at the Associated Press Sports Editors Summer Conference on Thursday, July 16, 2026, at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Va.
President Paul Barrett called the meeting to order at 12:05 p.m. and introduced First Vice President (and incoming 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
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. – Jim Pignatello
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 — Emily Horos
Representing the Associated Press: Oscar Dixon
Executive Committee Reports
Finances and budget (Bill Eichenberger)
Membership at end of June at 325 paid members, 200 primary members. Up from 188 last year. Down on secondary members, but “nothing huge.”
On budget across the board. Tommy has done a tremendous job on sponsorships. Will have a little bit of a cushion after the convention, which is unusual. Should be up 25-30K starting the new year. Normally it’s around 10.
Conference (John Bednarowski)
Wi-Fi – Use Marriott Bonvoy with password APSEstaff26
Opening reception tonight; meet in Sycamore & Oak in retail village next to the arena. Goes from 5:30-7, and tipoff at 7 p.m.
Buy your own tickets for the Mystics game vs. Portland.
On name tag: Pink sticker for Red Smith. Green one for Awards banquet. Near capacity for both events.
Winter 2027 convention, Feb. 28-March 4 at the Southpoint in Las Vegas. Room rate $70/night.
Summer 2027 convention, June 10-12 at Doubletree Denver Cherry Creek. Room rate $145/night.
Jason Murray (Host)
It is hot. Recommend reading Maria and Greg’s post about navigating DC and using the Metro. Ton of restaurants in Crystal City, ton of restaurants going under the metro station.
Metro is generally safe. If you want to go into DC, use Blue Line.
For entertainment, National Harbor is a nice destination. Use a Lyft or Uber.
Revenue (Tommy Deas)
We have raised $55K in sponsorship for this conference, the most since 2023, and also set a record in number of sponsors at 13.
I’d like to thank TKO for being our presenting/platinum sponsor for this event; along with gold sponsors USA TODAY Co, NHL, NASCAR, The Athletic, ESPN and the Boston Globe; silver sponsors MLS, MLB, APSE Foundation, Seattle Times and the Washington Mystics; along with bronze sponsor the Philip Merrill College of Journalism’s Povich Center for Sports Journalism at the University of Maryland.
Thai Night (Tommy Deas)
APSE’s regular Thai Night outing for the 2026 Summer Conference will take place Friday night, July 17, at Urban Thai, 561 23rd St South, Arlington, VA. This is a 10-minute walk from the conference hotel.
We will depart on foot from the hotel lobby at 7:15 p.m. after the showing of the Billy Jean King documentary.
APSE 5K (Dan Spears)
The Craig Stanke Memorial 5K for walkers and runners will again be Saturday morning. We’ll meet in the lobby and head out at 7 am. It’s a 3-block walk to the Mount Vernon Trail, which does not cross over any streets, so it’ll be a safe start to your day.
Donn Walden Leadership Grant (Paul Barrett)
Lyzz Stallings of the York (Pa.) Daily Record is the fourth winner of the Donn Walden Leadership Grant. Lyzz began working in the sports department of the Daily Record in 1998 and is the regional sports director for USA Today Co. in Ohio and Pennsylvania. We’re happy to have her representing our smaller newsrooms. (Lyzz, stand up and wave.) If you haven’t met Lyzz yet, please take the time to introduce yourself this week.
APSE Foundation (Lisa Wilson)
Introducing the 14th class of APSE fellows who will graduate Saturday:
- Bria Manning, sports editor, Montana Standard/406 MT
- Carlos Silva Jr., sports editor, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
- Andre Fernandez, deputy sports editor, Miami Herald
- Isabella DiAmore, associate sports editor, Philadelphia Inquirer
- Courtney Shultz, deputy managing editor, The Athletic
- Lyric Swinton, freelance wrestling reporter and social media producer
- Zoe Collins-Rath, sports producer and reporter, Austin American-Statesman
The third annual silent auction opens Friday. We’ve raised $2,000 each year and are hoping to at least match that. Exploring options to put the auction online.
Please join me in welcoming Tommy Deas to the board officially. He’s taking over coordinating the silent auction.
We are partnering with APSE to bring scholarships more under our umbrella. We will be able to donate to our existing scholarships and start a new one. Howard Fendrich’s wife, Rosanna, named the APSE Foundation as one of the organizations people should support after his passing. Next year we will be starting a scholarship in Howard’s name.
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
Dan Spears revived committee sign-ups virtually last year, and we continued that in 2026. I posted a story on the APSE website, and thanks to those who signed up. I passed along those names to the committee chairs, and they should reach out to you here in Arlington or by email if you’re not here this week.
If you’re interested in joining an APSE committee, we’ll take sign-ups through the end of July. Here’s the link to the form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScU8Vs2DxCJPlHz2llKBD0sCqMQ6rFggUCYpuWXV4xHhrPKJA/viewform?usp=publish-editor
Diversity (A. Sherrod Blakely)
First, I want to thank the news organizations that agreed to take the Diversity Pledge this past year; the most recent being the Portland Herald. While it did not result in a direct hire, it did get a young journalist of color on their radar who may be a viable candidate for another position down the road. But that process crystallized a frank reality for me that I have been weighing for years: the Diversity Pledge as it stands now does not work. Part of the issue is the gap that exists for news organizations between the incentive to do it and the incentive not to do it.
I realized that this is an issue that is above my pay grade, so I went to folks whose insight may provide answers, or at least a few crumbs to aid APSE’s search for the best path forward. After a series of talks with sports editors, assignment editors, writers, reporters, columnists, and early-career journalists from an array of racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds.
Those conversations led to me creating a one-sheet that goes into slightly greater detail as to how I envision the Diversity Committee expanding its scope in the coming months. For the committee, I need at least three volunteers for the three subcommittees: hiring, programming, and engagement. The document provides a bit more detail on each of these groups. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with questions. Depending on what the number of volunteers looks like in the next 24-36 hours, I would ideally like to meet here, maybe sometime on Saturday, for what should take 30 minutes or less. Thank you for your time. (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NKx0qK41Zz9o0_0qtljG2Tq7HGTa4uNFeRMAb9DOdYo/edit?tab=t.0)
Membership (Jason Murray)
Calendar on the website is up to date with future conferences. Let him know of events to track what’s going on.
Looking for someone to take over this committee.
Career Advancement (Lisa Wilson)
Student chapters, we have 3 new this year. Hampton, Rowan and Stony Brook, brings it to 17 total chapters.
3 sessions this year. 2 in the fall, navigating your first job out of college and a version of “How we did it.”
Career session will be 8:30 Saturday morning. If students want a resume critique, let me know.
Regions (Paul Barrett)
I want to thank Chris Boan and Jim Pignatiello, whose region chair duties come to an end this week. New Northeast Region chair Nate Mink of Syracuse.com and I are seeking people interested in being the vice chair in that region.
Maria McIlwain of The Philadelphia Inquirer (who lives in Texas) was set to replace Chris as the new West Region chair. But with her election victory for second vice president, that position, along with the West vice chair position she was in, are both open.
Please reach out to Perryn or me if you have questions or interest in the vacant positions.
The rest of the lineup:
Southeast: Patrick Obley of The Villages Daily Sun and Steve Wiseman of The News & Observer in Fayetteville.
Midwest: Aaron Ferguson of the Indianapolis Daily Star and Jeff Patterson of The Oklahoman.
Scholarships (Phil Kaplan)
A story announcing the four winners of the APSE student scholarship winners will be published this week. We had just over 15 applications, but we were late in making the announcement as we waited for specifics. I believe moving forward we will have a clearer direction on how much each scholarship will be worth and how many. One tweak for next year will be three writing samples instead of five and one video submission, which is new. H/T Naila 🙂
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. 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 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 decrease in coverage from some of the locals and regionals in recent years.
World Cup (Paul Barrett)
We had several productive meetings with FIFA media-relations staff after the Winter Conference, mostly going over the credential process and details on stadiums, how the media session will work, etc. They seemed to be helpful for those of us who were trying to understand how it all would work, and I haven’t heard of any major issues with access or credentials. So I’ll take that as a good sign.
Red Smith Award (Matt Pepin)
Ideas for going forward: Voting a two-step process going forward after 17 finalists and 150 voters. First round to determine finalists and then a winner. Idea to balance voting and make it more equitable.
Also, move the timeline up to begin voting in January and get a winner in February to largely secure sponsorship for the luncheon. The more lead time on that, the better.
Website/social (Erik Hall)
No update. They exist.
Old business
Elections (Paul Barrett)
Congrats to Maria McIlwain, our incoming second vice president. She’ll officially move onto the officer team at the closing meeting.
Also, if you have interest in running in next year’s election, feel free to reach out to any current officer or a past president. There are a lot of people in this room who would be great assets to the organization in these roles.
Contest (Perryn Keys)
Sincere thank you 100 times over to everyone who volunteers their time to judge. Everyone knows this is the most prestigious contest in sports journalism but can’t be done without your help.
Nearly 200 enterees, but with new additions of A&B Hs beating writing and podcasts, we added quite a bit more freight. You have to make sure you keep the contest judgeable. We were a couple weeks later on getting rankings out but we made it.
Everyone will get their 1st place plaques on Saturday. 2-10 will get certificates via editors via email within the week.
Billy Jean King contest has previously been overseen by 1st VP as well but going down the road, that will become the responsibility of 2nd VP.
Student Contest (Erik Hall)
UCLA graduate Ira Gorawara, now of The Athletic, won the 2026 APSE Student Contest
Next year, plan to change the timeline so the entries will be from April 11, 2026, to Dec. 31, 2026, to align with the regular contest. Change largely due to the early summer conference in 2027 at the beginning of June.
New business
John Bednarowski is looking for input this week on an idea. A few years ago we consolidated convention to three days and it has worked to an extent. However, we had 15 rooms on our block booked for Wednesday night and I had to go back to hotel contact to get more rooms for Wednesday. If that many people are coming in on Wednesday, we should look at potentially have opening meetings on Wednesday which will open up all day Thursday for programming.
Bill Bradley believes it may be more of a West Coast to East Coast thing. No way he would’ve made it in time.
Jorge Rojas asks if it opens the door for more sponsorships, John believes it will. Jorge though believes if we lost half this room, it would not be ideal. It’s a double-edged sword.
Tommy Deas says yes if properly programmed and spaced out it would lead to more inventory and sponsorship opportunities.
Nalia asks when it would start. Next year would be a problem due to travel to Denver and distance from the hotel. John says it would likely start in 28 but he would be open to adjusting the contract if there’s enough interest.
Bylaws Changes
None
Closing
Motion to adjourn: John Bednarowski
Second: Mike Sherman
Meeting ended at 12:54 p.m.
Attendance
Bill Eichenberger, APSE
Matt Pepin, Boston Globe
Gary Potosky, Philadelphia Inquirer
Scott Thurston, Boston Globe
Jorge Rojas, The Athletic
Nicole Mullin, USA Today
John Leuzzi, USA Today
Aaron Ferguson, Indy Star
Amie Just, Lincoln Journal Star
Oscar Dixon, AP
Lisa Wilson, The Athletic
Jason Murray, The Athletic
Dan Spears, USA Today
Lyzz Stallings, USA Today
Greg Brownell, Post-Star (retired)
George Solomon, retired
Jim Pignatiello, MassLive
Meredith Perri, MassLive
Sherrod Blakely, Boston University
Connor Pignatello, Syracuse.com
Nate Mink, Syracuse.com
Phil Kaplan, USA Today Network
AMANDA Bruni, The Athletic
Oskar Garcia, The Athletic
Courtney Schultz, The Athletic
Isabella DiAmore, Philadelphia Inquirer
Andre Fernandez, The Miami Herald
Carlos Silva Jr., Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Zoe Collins Rath, Austin American-Statesman
Lyric Swinton, The Takedown On SI
Bria Manning, Lee Enterprises
Rod Beard, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Justin Pelletier, McClatchy Southeast
Steve Wiseman, McClatchy N.C.
Emily Horos, The Arizona Republic
Jeffrey Perkins, San Antonio Express-News
Ben Vessa, Metro Sports STL
Naila Meyers, Minnesota Star Tribune
Tommy Deas, USA Today Co.
Maria McIlwain, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Bill Bradley, Las Vegas Review-Journal
Mike Sherman, Sports Business Journal
John Bednarowski, Marietta Daily Journal
Ralph Walter, Spokane Spokesman-Review
